The Potter Twins and the Innocent Ex-Convict
by ScaleneGalleons
Summary: Third year at Hogwarts can't be worse than their previous years. Right? Right? Wrong. With the supposed 'prophecy' Hermione and Melanie heard last year, and the mysterious package, what could go wrong? So, so much, especially with a certain Sirius Black on the loose. Great. Just great. :Rated T just to be safe:
1. Another Crazy Year

**{A/N Chapter one. Yay, third year :D Okay, this is probably going to have less from the actual books than the last two, just because a lot of it was Draco vs. Harry, and they're friends here. I'm hoping to have some Harry POVs here, unlike the last one. So in this one, I'll try to make the POVs even from all four characters. So, yay, I survived a week without internet :D Anyways, thanks to ALL my readers from The Mysterious Sibling, and The Not-so-Secret Chamber. Specials thanks to reviewers, followers, and favouriters :D**

**Anyways, I'm not J.K. Rowling (I AM NOT WORTHY) and I never will be so can this please just count for the whole story? K thx :D}**

"You know, if we get caught, we're dead," whispered Melanie. The two of them were crouched under a blanket on their bed, which was being held up by heads and arms. The only source of light was an almost heatless flame that was hovering by Melanie's ear.

"Yeah, but if we don't finish this, we're dead." Harry held up his half-finished Potions essay, which had many ink marks and crossed out words on it from when Melanie had edited it.

"You'll have to re-write that, by the way."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I know. Anyways, why was witch burning pointless?"

"Did you even read the book?"

"No," lied Harry. He actually wanted to see if Melanie knew something that they learned during the school year, when she was petrified.

"Uh, something about a Flame-Freezing Charm. Though," she said with a smirk, "I wouldn't need that."

"Right." _How does she know that?_ Harry was aware that Melanie knew more than she should, but Harry still wasn't sure how and to what extent.

Having their books and homework locked in the cupboard under the stairs had been a problem until Melanie managed to melt and reshape the lock on the door so that, if you jiggled it enough, the door would open. The two of them managed to grab one of each book, some ink, some quills, and some parchment, which they'd hid under a loose floorboard in their room.

Being caught meant something worse than the detention or two they would serve for not having their homework done. For one, Harry wasn't one hundred percent sure that their relatives would drive them to King's Cross Station (though if he needed to get on his broom and under the Invisibility Cloak, no problem). They were in a bad mood with him and Melanie, as always, but their mood was worsened with Ron calling their house.

Apparently, wizards didn't realize that they didn't need to YELL into phones.

Ron, however, did realize that he got Harry and Melanie into trouble. He didn't call again, and probably told Hermione not to call either. Adding to that, the only two people Harry and Melanie got letters from were Ron and Draco, and sparingly at that.

With Ron, it was because their family owl, Errol, was old and slow. And because he was a family owl, Ron could only use him every once in a while. With Draco, it was because if his father were to find the letters… it wouldn't be good. Because of that, Draco had to sneak the letters he sent to Harry and Melanie with a letter he sent to Blaise or Theodore, and not even every time.

Practically cut off from the Wizarding world, Harry and Melanie had to resort to doing their summer homework.

Homework.

_At least Hedwig's allowed out of her cage, _Harry thought bitterly, remembering how the cage door had been padlocked last summer. This summer was about the same as the last one in levels of horribleness. Hedwig and Ash were allowed out of their cages, but the Dursleys knew that they weren't allowed to do magic. Hedwig was allowed to fly, but still not allowed to bring letters to or from others. Harry sighed, wiping at an ink spot on his parchment.

"Oh," whispered Melanie. "It's one o' clock."

"Happy birthday," replied Harry.

"Happy birthday."

The two of them came out from under the blanket and leaned against the window sill. Harry could feel the wind tickling his cheek and brushing his hair away from his forehead.

Subconsciously, his fingers brushed against the scar on his arm where the basilisk fang had punctured the skin and nearly killed him. Below it, on the wrist, was the silver bracelet with the moonstone, which buzzed as a breeze brushed against it. He saw Melanie narrow her eyes at where his scar would be and raised an eyebrow. _How does she know about that? _

His thought was interrupted as he saw a silhouette of something against the moon. Harry almost dived for his wand before he realized that it was three owls holding something, not a beastly creature.

They landed on the bed, and the oldest one, Errol, collapsed into a feathery pile. Quickly, Harry untied the parcel attached to the owls while Melanie handed them a bowl of water.

There was an envelope, which contained two pieces of paper: a letter and a newspaper clipping.

_That's good for the Weasleys._

Inside the actual parcel were two objects: one was a Sneakascope, for Harry, and the other was a small pocketbook of runes, for Melanie.

Melanie thumbed through a few pages. "Awesome!"

The parcel that Hedwig had brought was from Hermione. After reading the letter, they opened the package. Inside was a Broomstick care kit, for Harry, and an advanced Potions book for Melanie, who abandoned the book of runes to look at the various potions.

Finally was Hagrid's package, which quivered and moved.

"Uh oh," said Melanie as the package flopped onto the ground. Cautiously, she opened tore the paper off to reveal two…

_Books?_ _Oh no… _Between the two of them, they managed to chase and secure the two books. When Melanie's hand 'accidentally' brushed against the spine and it fell still, Harry did the same to his and tied it up with some rope. Just in case.

~.~.~.~.~

The next morning, Harry got the worst news that he could get (other than Hogwarts burning down).

"Aunt Marge? Sh – she's not coming here, is she?" He turned to look at Melanie, who had a face full of disgust, but not surprise. _Why didn't you warn me?!_

"Marge'll be here for a week, and while we're on the subject, we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her," said Uncle Vernon angrily.

Beside Harry, Melanie sighed quietly. They both hated Aunt Marge, who seemed to think that they were the banes of her existence (though really, it was the other way around).

Dudley turned away from the television to watch Uncle Vernon yell at Harry and Melanie, which was much more entertaining than the television (in his opinion).

"First, you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge."

Melanie snorted, and Harry snapped, "All right, if she does when she's talking to me."

"Second, as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any – any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourselves, got me?"

"I will if she does." _What I wouldn't pay to see Melanie set her on fire…_

"And thirdly, we've told Marge that you attend St. Brutus's SecureCenter for Incurably Criminal Boys," he said to Harry. "And you," he turned to Melanie, "attend St. Agnes's SecureCenter for Incurably Criminal Girls."

"What?" Both Melanie and Harry jumped up, furious.

"And you'll both be sticking to that story, or there'll be trouble." And that was that.

Harry fumed silently while Uncle Vernon stood.

_Center for Incurably Criminal Boys? Shouldn't Dudley be going to that school? _Harry scowled. But then he had a sudden idea. _Maybe I could use this…_

"I'm not taking you," Uncle Vernon snarled. Harry nearly laughed out loud, but stopped himself.

"Like I wanted to come. I want to ask you something…"

~.~.~.~.~

Harry sighed. What had he gotten himself into? Still, it would be worth it if he got his Hogsmeade form signed.

"Do something about your hair!" Aunt Petunia snapped at him. Harry wearily placed a hand over his hair and tried to flatten it, but nothing happened. If Aunt Petunia really expected Harry's hair to cooperate, she was sadly mistaken.

"Get the door!" With a loud sigh, Harry pasted a fake smile on his face and opened the door.

"Where's my Dudders? Where's my neffy poo?" Aunt Marge yelled. Beside him, Harry could see the Melanie had collapsed against the wall, nearly doubled over in laughter. Aunt Marge threw her suitcase at Harry, who managed to catch it with his stomach.

Harry and Melanie managed to escape, carrying the heavy suitcase up to the spare bedroom.

"Neffy poo?" said Melanie in a voice that sounded like Aunt Marge's. Harry and her both starting laughing, muffling the sound with their hands. When they were both calm enough, they walked down the stairs.

"-poor old Ripper. He pines if he's away from me."

_I'd pine if I were with you._ Harry winced when Ripper growled, alerting everybody else in the room of his arrival. Aunt Marge's head snapped toward shim and Melanie.

"So! Still here, are you?"

"Yep," said Harry and Melanie together, exchanging a small smile.

"Don't you say 'yep' in that ungrateful tone!" Harry tuned out as Aunt Marge went into a rant about why he should be grateful. When she finished talking, Harry gave a small, forced smile as though he understood what she was talking about, which only made her go into another rant.

Harry jumped as he realized that Aunt Marge was looking expectantly at him. _Did she ask a question?_

"Er-" Behind her, Uncle Vernon nodded. "Yes."

That seemed to be a sufficient answer for Aunt Marge, who started talking again.

Eventually, they managed to escape Aunt Marge's presence and went back to their room to have a good laugh about the whole thing.

~.~.~.~.~

_Really, she deserves this. _That's what Melanie was thinking as she calmly watched Aunt Marge inflate like a balloon. She lifted into the air, only stopping once she hit the ceiling. An invisible current battered her around, into all four walls like a game of pinball.

Melanie followed Harry as he stood up and headed towards the cupboard under the stairs. The door of the cupboard swung open magically, and the two of them reached in for their belongings. Within a minute, they were both packed and ready to go.

"COME BACK IN HERE!" yelled Uncle Vernon. "COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!"

Harry brought his wand out of his trunk and pointed it straight at Uncle Vernon. To add to the effect, Melanie set a nearby object on fire.

"She deserved it. She deserved what she got. You keep away from me." Melanie opened the door for him and the two of them retreated into the quiet street. "I'm going. I've had enough."

Harry and Melanie walked in silence, heading as far away from their 'home' as they could without getting lost. Eventually, they had to stop because their hastily packed trunks opened and everything spilled out. Ash let out a pitiful mew from his cage, which Melanie lowered to the ground.

"Where to now?"

Harry shrugged, starting to look panicked.

_I guess we could signal for the Knight Bus again, but with two of us it'd be kind of obvious who we were. But if we just wait here for the Ministry of Magic, they'll make us go back to Privet Drive. Yeah, we should signal the Knight Bus. But first…_

She had to wait for Harry to do it.

"Harry, you don't need to panic," said Melanie once they had repacked everything into their trunks, more organized this time.

"I'm not panicking," he protested. Melanie raised and eyebrow and Harry admitted, sheepishly, "Maybe just a little bit."

They stood there for a while longer before Harry looked around, eyes fixed on a shadowy figure. "There's something here."

Melanie followed his gaze, although she knew exactly where the 'something' was. Her eyes landed on the outline of some large creature with gleaming eyes. _Sirius Black. _Quickly, she held her hand in front of Harry threateningly, as well as taking a step in front of him.

"Don't touch my brother," she growled under her breath.

There was a deafeningly loud BANG, and Melanie reached down quickly to prevent Harry from being squished by the Knight Bus.

"Your luck, dear brother, is horrible." Harry's response was cut off as the conductor of the bus, Stan Shunpike, stepped out of the door.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can taken you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening." When Harry didn't respond, still looking into the darkness for the mysterious creature, Stan Shunpike asked, "'Choo lookin' at?"

"There was a big black-"

"Nothing," interrupted Melanie. She stepped on Harry's foot and pointed at her forehead. Nodding, he flattened his black hair over his scar before Stan could see it.

"Woss your name?" asked Stan.

"Neville Longbottom."

"Lavender Brown." _And he doesn't even question our different last names… _Melanie shook her head, slightly exasperated.

"So, this bus," said Harry, "did you say it goes anywhere?"

"Yep, anywhere you like, 'long it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater." He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Ere, you did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand and dincha?"

"Yes," Harry said quickly. "Listen, how much would it be to get to London?"

From her trunk, Melanie extracted her money bag, toppling over a pile of books. _I'll have to organize those again. _Sighing in exasperation, she handed the appropriate amount of money to Harry, who gave it to Stan. Between the three of them, they managed to load the two trunks onto the bus with Hedwig's and Ash's cages balanced precariously on top of the trunks. Ash hissed angrily as they bumped the trunk, and his cage, against a wall.

"You 'ave this one," whispered Stan, not wanting to wake up any of the other passengers. "This is our driver, Ernie Prang. This is Neville Longbottom and Lavender Brown, Ern." When both of them were seated on the bed, Stan said, "Take 'er away, Ern."

Knowing just how fast the Knight Bus went, Melanie gripped onto a nearby pole to prevent herself from being thrown backwards. She laughed as Harry picked himself off the ground and grabbed the same pole.

_Sirius Black and Dementors this year… Oh, joy. _Melanie scowled to herself. _Can't we ever just have a normal year? Honestly, with Harry's luck, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody dies this year. _She sat there, re-watching what would be happening at the beginning of this year up until Christmas (_the worst time to find out your parents died because their best friend betrayed them_). _Maybe I'll find something about Professor Snape this year._ Melanie felt slightly frustrated that the mysterious Potions professor was still that; a mystery.

Her memory watching was disturbed as Harry exclaimed, "That man! He was on the Muggle news!"

"Sirius Black," said Stan. "'Course 'e was on the Muggle news, Neville. Where you been?" He chuckled again and handed the paper to Harry/Neville. "You oughta read the papers more, Neville."

Melanie, curious as to what the paper said, read as well.

BLACK STILL AT LARGE

**Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, **_(Where they sent Hagrid last year,_ Melanie remembered.)** is still eluding capture, **_(That's a bit pathetic of the Ministry. Honestly, this is who we rely on for our problems?)_** the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.  
"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, **_(Sure you are.)_** "and we beg the magical community to remain calm." **_('Stay calm everybody! There's only a MURDERER on the loose.')  
_**Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis. **_(Well, Sirius Black is a danger to them too.)_**  
"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it – who'd believe him if he did?"  
While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other) **_(A type of 'metal wand?' Really?) _**the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.**

Melanie let out a low whistle. _Thirteen people with one curse… Wow._

"Scary-lookin' fing, inee?"

"He murdered thirteen people with one curse?" Harry sounded horrified.

"Yep," said Stan, "in front of witnesses an' all. Broad daylight. Big trouble it caused, dinnit, Ern?"

"Ar," replied Ern.

"Black woz a big supporter of You-Know-'Oo," said Stan.

"What, Vold – Ow!" Melanie glared at Harry, who was rubbing his arm where she had pinched him. Thankfully, neither Stan or Ernie seemed to realize that Harry was about to say Voldemort.

"A supporter of You-Know-Who?" asked Melanie.

"Yeah," said Stan. "Yeah, that's right. Very close to You-Know-'Oo, they say...anyway, when little 'Arry Potter got the better of You-Know-'Oo, all You-Know-'Oo's supporters was tracked down, wasn't they, Ern? Most of 'em knew it was all over, wiv You-Know-'Oo gone, and they came quiet. But not Sirius Black. I 'eard he thought 'e'd be second-in-command once You-Know-'Oo 'ad taken over. Anyway, they cornered Black in the middle of a street full of Muggles an' Black took out 'is wand and 'e blasted 'alf the street apart, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen Muggles what got in the way. 'Orrible, eh? An' you know what Black did then?"

"What'd he do?" asked Harry in a low voice.

"Laughed." Harry's eyes popped with disbelief while Melanie scowled. "Jus' stood there an' laughed."

Here, Melanie tuned out again. She spent the rest of the bus ride looking out the window to make sure that Sirius Black wasn't running outside, waiting for Harry to get off the bus. Silently, Melanie promised to herself that she would make sure that Sirius wouldn't get to Harry.

The bus skidded to a stop, and it was Harry's turn to laugh as Melanie went flying out of her seat and crashed, face first, into the aisle.

"Thanks," said Harry.

"Thanks," said Melanie, much more sarcastically.

When they got their trunks out of the bus, Melanie felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked at Harry to see one on his shoulder too.

_Oh great. Here's that incompetent Minister._

**{A/N Yay, first chapter :D I'll probably update once a week, and I'll try to make longer chapters if I can.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	2. Staying in Diagon Alley

**{A/N Chapter Two. Thanks to Dazer95 (Really glad you like it! :D) and That Elusive Reader (She doesn't know yet, but she'll find out… sometime. Won't be too long.) for reviewing. Onto the chapter! And I'm still not J.K. Rowling.}**

"Wow, We didn't get in trouble."

_Well, considering you were expecting Azkaban… _Out loud, Melanie nodded in agreement. "Though you think that we would've gotten lectured or something."

"Too bad we couldn't get out Hogsmeade forms signed." Melanie shrugged, opening Ash's case. He crawled out, warily sniffing the air before running around their room. He chose to lie down on an oak chair, promptly falling asleep.

"It's been such a weird day," said Harry, yawning. Tom, the bartender, had split the bed in their room into two, so they collapsed onto the beds and were asleep within minutes.

~.~.~.~.~

Melanie's neck was sore from having looking all around Diagon Alley. It was simply. Amazing. Fantastic. never knew where to look.

The day after they arrived in Diagon Alley, they filled up their money bags in preparation for another school year. After that, their days were spent in cafes and exploring stores that they had yet to see. During the first week, they managed to get all their school supplies (though they hadn't needed the monstrous book, much to the shop owner's relief).

The summer passed even faster than their last one. Before long, it was already the last day of the summer holidays. As Harry and Melanie walked to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, they heard somebody calling their names.

"Harry! Melanie!" Ron and Hermione were sitting just outside of the ice cream parlor.

"Finally!" said Ron. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and-"

"I got all my school stuff already," Harry interrupted. "And how come you knew we're staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad," answered Ron.

"Yes, he did actually blow up our aunt," Melanie said, anticipating Hermione's question. Despite Harry's protests of how he didn't mean to, Hermione still had to lecture him, and then turned to lecture Ron for laughing.

"What's all that, Hermione?" asked Harry, pointing at the three bulging bags.

"Well, I'm taking more subjects than you, aren't I." _Yes, yes you definitely are._ _Wait… What subjects am I supposed to be taking? _Melanie pushed the worrying thought away. Hopefully, the professors would've realized that because she had been petrified, she couldn't exactly have chosen her subjects.

Then again, those were the same professors that couldn't figure out what the monster was before a second year figured it out. They wouldn't have ever figured it out if it weren't for the trio of second year olds.

"Remember when we were here last summer?" Melanie tapped her bracelet's gem. "What do you think they are?"

Harry shrugged helplessly, but Melanie could see the gears turning in Hermione and Ron's minds.

"Well," started Hermione. "You said that yours probably has something to do with fire, which makes sense."

"Yeah, it does look like flames," agreed Harry. "What about the other three, then?"

Hermione shot him a 'look'. "I was getting to that." She took a deep breath, definitely getting ready to go into a long rant, when Ron cut in.

"Remember when we started 'glowing?'" Three nods, one accompanied by the 'look.' "Well, considering that Melanie's is fire, it would make sense for the others to have something to do with, er, elements?"

"And when we were 'glowing,'" Hermione continued, "we heard some animal sounds, water, fire, and there was wind whistling through trees. Um…"

"Fire burning," supplied Melanie.

"Salty oceans," added Harry.

Ron squinted, trying to remember. "I think that was about it."

"Right." Hermione nodded. "The colours: orange, blue, green, and grey."

"Obviously," said Ron, ignoring Hermione's 'look' once more, "fire is orange."

"Obviously." _Just look at this thing! It's an orange, gold, and there's an amber gem._

"So, going with the elements theme, there's earth, water, ice, air, and some miscellaneous ones."

Hermione nodded. "It would make sense for mine to have something to do with earth." She gestured to her jade bracelet. Looking closely at it, Melanie noticed that there were cobweb like threads of brown throughout the jade.

"Ron's is either wind or water, most likely water, and Harry's is either wind or ice, probably wind though. Ice is usually white," said Hermione, looking closely at them.

Ron's had lines of darker and light blues, swirling in it. There were also bits of turquoise and white. Harry's had curls of various shades of grey in his gem, with some white lines tracing a couple of the nodded in agreement and looked at Harry, who was raising his eyebrows doubtfully.

"Don't you think this is a bit… far fetched?"

Ron and Hermione both turned to him, wearing identical 'You-doubt-this-but-you're-a-wizard' looks.

"Mate, Melanie can literally make fire on her hands." To prove Ron's point, a small flame appeared on their table.

_Wait… _

"Harry, didn't the pudding hover last year?" Harry nodded, not understanding Melanie's point. "Well, the warning letter didn't say that you used a spell twice… Wind then?"

"Oh… Maybe." He turned to Ron and Hermione. "Do you guys remember anything that has to do with your 'element'?"

Ron nodded hesitantly. "There was a time when we were visiting one of my millions of cousins. We went to a pond to go swimming, and then I fell into the deep part of the middle. I was breathing underwater, somehow. Mum and dad said that it was accidental magic, but now that I think about it…"

"Hmm…" Hermione suddenly sat up straight. "Oh, that's right! I've still got ten Galleons. It's my birthday in September, and mum and dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice book?" teased Ron.

Hermione ignored him, rolling her eyes. "No, I don't think so. I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig and you've got Errol-"

"I haven't," Ron said. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers." He plopped the rat onto the table, and Melanie's lip curled into a sneer. She felt sudden hatred wash over her.

What?Wheredid that come from?It was just a rat, after all.

"And I want to get him checked over," continued Ron, staring thoughtfully at Melanie. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

"There's a magical creature shop just over there." Harry pointed in the general direction. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."

Finishing their ice cream and paying, Melanie called Ash over and he curled around her neck. The four of them crossed the street to the Magical Menagerie.

"This place is crowded," noted Melanie, doing a sort of walk-dance to avoid tipping over cages of animals.

"What'd you say?" Ron half-yelled to be heard over the noise from the animals.

"Nothing."

The shop was filled with so much stuff that not an inch of the wall was visible. Shelves were stacked on shelves precariously, and cages on top of cages were tilting over, threatening to collapse on the customers. The shop owner was rushing around, pushing cages against the walls to try and prevent them from collapsing. Noticing the people crowding around the front desk, the owner ran back around.

Leaving Melanie and Hermione by the animals, Harry and Ron lined up at the front desk.

"Look at all these owls, Hermione. Snowy, Barn, Tawny, Digging," Melanie pointed at the signs, stopping at one. "Fire breathing?"

"Ha, ha. No." Melanie pouted and Hermione swatted her. "I really don't want you to burn down the castle."

"You're no fun. So which owl are you going to get?"

Hermione looked around, watching the owls swivel their heads to look at her. "I don't know."

Melanie smiled. _Go find the very small tiger._ "Maybe we should go to the front of the store. There're probably more owls there." They made their way to the front and heard a shout from Ron followed by one from the shop owner.

"OUCH!"

"NO, CROOKSHANKS, NO!"

"What happened?" asked Hermione, looking at Melanie, who was turning away to hide her smile.

"Let's go check."

They got to the front, manoeuvring around cages and shelves, just in time to see Ron and Harry scramble out of the shop.

"What happened?" Hermione asked the shop owner, who was wrestling with a ginger cat. An enormous ginger cat.

"Crookshanks here happened," said the witch, looking tired. "He doesn't like anybody that comes in. I don't know when we'll get a home for him, the poor thing. He's been here for ages."

"Well, he is kind of cute," admitted Melanie, reaching a hand towards the cat. Crookshanks hissed and smacked her hand away, though thankfully with claws retracted.

"He's not just kind of cute," protested Hermione. "He's adorable!" She reached to pat his head and succeeded without getting a shredded hand. The shop owner's eyes lit up.

"Why don't you take him, then? He doesn't seem to pounce on you."

Within ten minutes, Hermione had a new pet. Ash, Melanie's cat, got along quite well with Crookshanks and the two of them batted at each other playfully. Hermione, carrying Crookshanks, exited the shop with a happy smile.

"Thanks for helping me carry the stuff, Melanie."

_You better be thankful! _"Thanks for dumping _everything _into my bag, Hermione." True enough, Melanie's bag was loaded with cat food, bowls, and brushes.

Hermione smiled teasingly back at Melanie, who stuck her tongue out. Before either of them could say anything, Ron approached them with a horrified look.

"You bought that monster?"

"He's gorgeous, isn't he?" Hermione pat Crookshanks adoringly.

"He's not a monster," said Melanie, "you're just grumpy that he jumped on your head."

"That thing nearly scalped me!" Ron protested.

"He didn't mean to, did you Crookshanks?" The cat smiled slightly, looking as though he definitely meant to scalp Ron.

"And what about Scabbers? He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?" At the mention of Scabbers, Melanie felt another wave of hatred wash over her rather inexplicably.

"That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic." Hermione shot him a disbelieving look. "Stop worrying. We're not even in the same House! There's no way that Crookshanks can get a Scabbers. Poor Crookshanks; that witch said he'd been in there for ages. Nobody wanted him."

"Wonder why," Ron said sarcastically.

"Why didn't you get an owl, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Because I saw Crookshanks!"

_That cat is going to be so spoiled, _Melanie thought, watching Hermione pat Crookshanks again.

Before long, they arrived in the Leaky Cauldron to find Mr. Weasley sitting there, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Harry! How are you?"

"Fine, thanks," said Harry as they sat down by Mr. Weasley.

_I'm fine too, thanks. How was my summer? Dreadful, thanks for asking._

Mr. Weasley put down his paper and the picture of Sirius Black stared up at all of them.

"They still haven't caught him, then?" asked Harry, pointing at the newspaper.

"No. They've pulled us all off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him, but no luck so far."

Ron perked up. "Would we get a reward if we caught him? It'd be good to get some more money-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," said Mr. Weasley, sounding strained. "Black's not going to be caught by a thirteen year old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards who'll get him back. You mark my words." Ron turned red at his father's words.

_Sure… _After all, when Harry found out that Sirius was after him, there was no way that Harry wouldn't go after Sirius.

_Especially when he realizes that Sirius Black was the one who betrayed our parents._

Before Melanie could ask about the Azkaban guards, which would be a nice way to prepare them all for the Dementors, more Weasleys entered the bar. Mrs. Weasley, carrying shopping bags, Fred and George, laughing about something, Percy, wearing his Head Boy badge proudly, and Ginny, a pink tinge on her face.

"Hello," muttered Ginny, making a beeline for the seat furthest away from Harry.

"Harry, how nice to see you." Percy stuck out a hand for him to shake.

"Hello, Percy," Harry said, looking like he was about to start laughing. The other three were stifling their giggles.

"I hope you're well?"

"Very well, thanks-"

"Harry!" said Fred, pushing Percy out of the way. "Simply splendid to see you, old boy-"

"Marvelous," interrupted George, pushing Fred away. "Absolutely spiffing." From behind them, Percy scowled, looking embarrassed. Melanie shot him a sympathetic look, though, maybe, she thought, she should feel sorry for the twins. One of those days, Fred and George would go just a little too far, and Percy seemed the type who knew a lot of spells…

"That's enough, now," reprimanded Mrs. Weasley sternly, though Melanie was sure that she could see a small smile tugging at the matriarch's lips.

"Mum!" exclaimed Fred. "How really corking to see you-"

_She's definitely smiling now. _"I said, that's enough. Hello, Harry, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" She pointed to the Percy's badge. "Second Head Boy in the family!"

"And last," muttered Fred.

"I don't doubt that," said Mrs. Weasley. Only Melanie saw how Ron slumped down at those words.

Mrs. Weasley turned a disappointed look on the twins. "I notice they haven't made you two prefects."

"What do we want to be prefects for? It'd take all the fun out of life." George and Fred exchanged revolted looks.

At Ginny's giggle, Mrs. Weasley's frown deepened. "You want to set a better example for your sister!"

Percy lifted his nose into the air, looking down it at everybody. "Ginny's got other brothers to set her an example. I'm going up to change for dinner."

George sighed overdramatically, watching Percy. "We tried to shut him in a pyramid. But mum spotted us."

**{A/N Whoever guessed the elements for the bracelets, I applaud you. I've decided to start asking questions in the A/N's (because why not). Who is your favourite HP character?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	3. Dementors and Memories

**{A/N Chapter Three. Thanks to Dazer95 for reviewing (I'm not sure if I say this enough, but thank you for all your encouragement!). Onto the chapter!}**

"Professor R. J. Lupin," whispered Hermione, pointing at the sleeping figure in the corner of their compartment. "It's on his case."

"He teaches Defence Against Dark Arts?" asked Ron. Hermione nodded. "Well, I hope he'd up to it. He looks like one, good hex would finish him off, doesn't he?" Melanie noticed a small twitch of the lips from the professor.

_He's pretending to be asleep, isn't he? _

"Anyways," said Hermione, turning to Harry, "what were you going to tell us?"

Melanie looked out the window, trying to, perhaps, spot a shaggy, black dog running alongside the train. Seeing nothing, she sighed in relief and turned back to the conversation, which had been drowned out by the Sneakoscope in Harry's trunk.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry." Ron pulled the glowing Sneakoscope out.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" asked Hermione, taking it from Ron.

"Yeah. Mind you, it's a very cheap one. It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" At Ron's earnest shake of a head, Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys. But how else was I supposed to get Harry and Melanie's presents to them?"

"I'm surprised that noise didn't alert everybody in a fifty metre kilometre radius of what you were doing," said Melanie, jamming her fingers in her ears.

"Stick it back in the trunk or it'll wake him up," Harry said, pointing at Professor Lupin.

_As if he's not awake already! _Not even Harry could sleep through that noise.

Once the Sneakoscope was shoved into a pair of socks and under some clothes, the lid of the trunk was closed and the sound was completely muffled.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," suggested Ron. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

Hermione looked up, eyes shining. "Do you know much about Hogsmeade? I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain-"

"Yeah, I think it is." Ron waved a hand dismissively. "But that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"

"What's that?"

"It's this sweetshop where they've got everything! Pepper Imps – they make you smoke at the mouth – and great, fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking about what to write next-"

Harry's expression soured, and Melanie sighed.

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione said, smiling dreamily in the way that Ron did when he was talking about sweets. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain-"

"-and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," interrupted Ron.

Hermione noticed Harry's sour face and looked at him questioningly.

"We can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign our permission forms, and Fudge wouldn't either."

"Besides," said Melanie, looking at Ron's horrified expressions, "I don't think Harry would be allowed out if," here she lowered her voice, "Sirius Black is after him." Hermione nodded, reluctantly, but Ron wasn't about to give up without a fight.

_Okay, I definitely saw Professor Lupin move that time._

"We can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle-"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of the school with Black on the loose-" Melanie saw Professor Lupin twitch once more, too unnaturally and perfectly timed to actually be asleep. _Sleeping… Yeah, right._

"But if we're with him, Black wouldn't dare-"

"Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish. Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street, do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because we're there?"

Professor Lupin turned over.

Ron's stubborn look turned to one of horror as Hermione fumbled with the straps on Crookshanks's basket. "Don't let that thing out!"

Crookshanks leapt out of the basket and took a moment to stretch before springing onto Ron's knee. Ron swatted Crookshanks over the ears and the ginger cat hissed.

"Ron, don't!" Hermione scooped Crookshanks up and put him back into the basket. Ron opened his mouth angrily when Professor Lupin stirred again, this time more noticeably. He went back to 'sleep' and the four of them sat in a comfortable silence, though Ron's eyes darted to Crookshank's cage more than once.

When the witch with the food cart arrived, the four of them spent a brief moment debating whether or not Professor Lupin was dead. Upon deciding that he wasn't, they fell back into a silence with Hermione pulling out this year's books and reading through them with Melanie browsing through her runes book and her advanced potions book. Sometime later, Draco Malfoy came into the compartment, stole some of their food, and promptly left with a cheeky grin.

As the rain thickened, the Hogwarts Express went further north towards their destination. The sky darkened and the lanterns inside the train flickered on. Despite all the noise, Professor Lupin still 'slept' on.

"Are we there yet?" whined Melanie. No sooner were the words out of her mouth when the train started slowing down.

"Great," said Ron, looking outside to try and spot Hogwarts. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast."

_Uh oh… _Melanie could feel the subtle change in temperature. _Dementors._

"We can't be there yet." Hermione looked down at her watch, tapping it as if that would tell her the most accurate time.

"So why're we stopping?" Ron rubbed against the window, trying to see better. Suddenly, the train jolted to a stop and all the lanterns went out.

"What's going on?" asked Ron.

"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!" Rustling sounds as Hermione, presumably, stood up.

"Well, at least nobody stepped on my foot. Ouch! Hermione!"

"At least nobody dropped a trunk on your foot," said Melanie, reaching out and swatting Harry.

"That was in first year when I was weak and scrawny." Harry reached out to swat her back.

"Was?"

He took a moment to process what she'd said. "Hey!"

"D'you think we've broken down?" asked Ron.

"Dunno," said Harry.

"Melanie?" Melanie turned to where she heard Hermione's voice from. "Light?"

"Oh, yeah." A small heatless flame flickered to life on her hand. _I hope Professor Lupin doesn't ask about this._

Their compartment door suddenly opened. There was a loud thump as somebody fell into their compartment.

"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry-"

"Hi, Neville," said Melanie. The three others chorused their hellos.

"Harry? Melanie? Ron? Hermione? What's happening?"

"No idea! Sit down-" A hiss as Neville tried to sit on Crookshanks.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," said Hermione.

The door slid open again, and Melanie expanded her fire so that they could see who was coming in.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come in and sit down-"

"Not here!" said Harry. "I'm here!"

"Ouch!" yelped Neville, presumably having sat on Crookshanks.

"Quiet!" commanded a new voice. Melanie could see Professor Lupin eyeing the flame in her hand. In a few seconds, another light joined hers as Professor Lupin carried a handful of flames.

"Stay where you are," he directed, slowly getting to his feet. Before he could get to the door, it slid open for the third time.

Melanie felt a pit of dread form in her stomach. Cold washed into the room, making her feel like she was drowning. Suddenly, she wished that there weren't two lights. All the better to see the Dementor with, and she definitely did not want to see the Dementor.

A long, rattling breath came from its gaping hole of a mouth. The cold in the compartment increased tenfold. Melanie shivered, feeling her eyes close without her permission.

All she saw was black and all she could feel was cold. Cold, cold, cold. Too cold.

_Where am I? _Wasn't she on the… a train or something? Where was she going? Why was she on the train? Fear curled up in her stomach, weighing down heavily like a cat that just refused to move.

How much time passed, she didn't know, but eventually the coldness started fading. Out of nowhere, she felt a non-too-gentle slap to her face.

"Ouch!" _Wait, that's Ron's voice. Does that mean I fell asleep? Oh, I am on the train. Hogwarts Express. Phew._

Opening her eyes, she realized that she was sitting curled up and head pressed against to her knees. Melanie saw Ron standing in front of her, cradling his cheek.

"I try to wake you up gently-"

"Gently? You slapped me!"

"Gently," Ron protested.

"Well, I punched you gently then," Melanie amended. "Don't wake me up like that."

"Well, sorry," he muttered. "I'll just leave you passed out next time."

"Thanks." _Besides, I don't think you realize that my knuckles hurt. Your face is bony._

On the floor, she saw Harry lying down. Hermione was beside him, trying to wake him up the same way that Ron did to Melanie. In a few seconds, Harry opened his eyes and sat up.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked Harry.

"Fine. What happened? Where's that – that thing? Who screamed?" Melanie winced in sympathy, thankful that she hadn't heard their parents, if slightly baffled as to why she hadn't heard their parents.

Ron shrugged, exchanging a glance with Hermione. "No one screamed."

Everybody in the compartment jumped at the loud snap. Professor Lupin was breaking pieces of chocolate off an enormous slab of chocolate.

"Here. Eat it. It'll help." He distributed the pieces to the students. Melanie ate hers quickly, feeling warmth spread through her body immediately.

"What was that thing?" asked Harry, looking at Professor Lupin.

"A Dementor. One of the Dementors of Azkaban." The professor left to go speak to the driver.

Harry turned to Hermione. "I don't get it… what happened?"

"I thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron, looking scared. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching-"

"Dementors show you your worst memory," Hermione said. "So whoever was part of your memory screamed." Melanie squeezed her eyes shut. Because she knew Harry's memories, she could heard Lily Potter's scream echoing in her mind.

"What happened to your face?" asked Harry, pointing at the red mark on Ron's face.

Ron scowled. "Melanie decided to punch me."

"Well, you were the one that slapped me to wake me up!"

"Gently!"

"What's your idea of gentle?"

"Not you hitting me!" Ron and Melanie shared a glare before laughing.

"But didn't any of you – fall off your seats?" Harry looked around the compartment awkwardly.

"No," admitted Ron. "But Ginny was shaking like mad, though, and I think Melanie passed out."

Professor Lupin returned and urged them to eat their chocolate, which they did. The remainder of the journey passed in an awkward silence until the train, eventually, stopped at Hogsmeade station.

The four of them made their way over to the coaches, which, Melanie informed Harry, were pulled by Thestrals (so no, he wasn't going insane as he'd previously assumed). The Thestrals traveled surprisingly swiftly and they were at Hogwarts within minutes. Melanie spent the time trying to coax an answer about her peculiar Dementor reaction out of Steven, who stubbornly refused to answer her question. After all, her life definitely was not all happiness, so why would her worst memory not have 'shown up'?

The 'Welcome-back-to-Hogwarts' feast passed in a blur for Melanie, whose head was pounding. Not having much of an appetite, she mainly sat and stared at the candles that lit up the room, moving the flames with a twitch of her finger. She didn't even notice that Harry and Hermione had been pulled aside by Professor McGonagall. Hermione as the only one who noticed the Hufflepuff's odd behaviour, shooting Melanie a concerned glance when she didn't applaud for Hagrid being the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Barely eating anything, the feast was over and Melanie went down to the Hufflepuff Common Room, only to collapse onto her bed as soon as she could.

**Buckbeak's hearing. Execution. Whomping Willow. Sirius Black's innocent? Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew. Caught by Snape. Flocked by Dementors. Scabbers gets away. Hospital Wing. Time Turner. Saving Sirius.**

Melanie woke up at five in the morning, feeling surprisingly awake. _Too bad I can't just get rid of Scabbers now. _She felt sorely tempted to burst into the Gryffindor Common Room, as she knew the password anyways, grab Scabbers, and tear that rat apart.

**_Not a good idea, _**chided Steven from her mind.

_So now you talk. _Melanie conjured a mental image of herself sticking out a tongue, sure that Steven would see. Sure enough, her mind was soon filled with laughter.

**_So childish. Now get back to sleep._**

**{A/N Well, that was kind of tedious to write. I'll get to the plot... eventually. Another question: Who was your least favourite HP character?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	4. Divination is so Grim

**{A/N Chapter Four. I'm just going to pretend that Ravenclaws have Divination with Gryffindors. I don't think it was mentioned in the book, so I'll just improvise. :D Thanks to Dazer95 (Snape is such an interesting character. I think most people felt the same way about him towards the end of thee series) for reviewing, and thanks to everybody who reads/follows/favourites! Don't be shy; leave me a review.}**

Hermione beamed in excitement. She couldn't believe it – the Ministry was letting her use a Time Turner!

_Fascinating. Fantastic. Amazing._

For perhaps the dozenth time, Hermione's hand went to the Time Turner, which was hanging around her neck. Her fingers traced the curves of the hourglass. She'd managed to find a way to tangle the chain around her green, 'elemental' necklace so that the golden chain was all hidden under her clothes.

"What're you so excited about?" questioned Ron, looking at her suspiciously. Hermione realized that he probably suspected that there was something she and Melanie weren't telling the two boys, but until they figured it out or at least understood it better, Hermione felt reluctant to tell them.

Melanie rolled her eyes teasingly. "Well, it's the first day for classes. You know how those Ravenclaws are." The Ravenclaw table which was buzzing with excitement as they looked through the years books, unlike the three other tables, which were mainly filled with students catching up with their friends.

"What's your schedule look like?" Ron reached over and grabbed Hermione's schedule, ignoring her protests.

"Hermione," said Ron, frowning at the paper, "they've messed up your timetable. Look – they've got you down for about ten subjects a day. There isn't enough time."

Hermione nearly laughed aloud at the 'there isn't enough time' comment. Of course there was enough time if she had a Time Turner. Instead, she just said, "I'll manage. I've fixed it all with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick."

Ron laughed, pointing at the timetable. "But look, see this morning? Nine o'clock Divination and Muggle Studies and Arithmancy! I mean, I know you're good, Hermione, but no one's that good. How're you supposed to be in three classes at once?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Melanie shoot her a knowing look and make a turning motion with her hands. Hermione nodded slightly, and then turned back at Ron with a stern 'no-more-about-this' look.

"Don't be silly. Of course I won't be in three classes at once."

"Hermione, how are you going to get to your classes?" asked Harry, reading the schedule over Ron's shoulder. Draco, on the other side of Harry, peeked at the schedule too.

Hermione plucked the schedule out of Ron's hands and changed the topic. "Pass the marmalade."

"But-"

"Ron, she's fixed it with the professors," said Melanie, passing Hermione the marmalade.

Hermione nodded, relieved to have finally gotten off the topic of her schedule. "Thank you, now-"

"All righ'?" interrupted Hagrid, who'd just walked into the Great Hall wearing a large moleskin overcoat. Hermione felt a stab of pity for the dead polecat, which was being swung by Hagrid. The polecat looked quite young too.

"Yer in my firs' ever lesson!" continued Hagrid, oblivious to the looks he was getting from everybody in the hall. Entering at breakfast with something dead was not the best idea. "Right after lunch! Bin up since five getting' everythin' ready… hope it's okay… me, at teacher, hones'ly." He grinned broadly and headed to the staff table.

"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" Ron had a slightly anxious tone to his voice.

"Him, a teacher," sneered Draco. "Honestly, I thought that Hogwart's had standards." When he was met by four pairs of angry eyes, Draco held his hands up. "I'm just saying!"

Ron sighed and got up, shooting one last glare at Draco. "Hermione, we'd better go. Look, Divination's at the top of the NorthTower. It'll take up ten minutes to get there…"

"Good luck," said Melanie, with a hint of laughter in her voice. She'd managed to fix her classes with Professor Sprout and was taking Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, though she'd clearly stated that the last class she took only to keep Harry company.

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione never got an answer as Ron nagged her to hurry up so they could get to their class.

"This is odd," said Hermione. "You're nagging me about not being late."

"There's – got to – be a – short – cut," panted Ron as they climbed a particularly long staircase, ending up in unfamiliar territory. They only decoration in that area was a painting of grass. _Just grass?_

"I think it's this way." Hermione started walking toward a passage on the right, stopping when Ron spoke.

"Can't be. That's south. Look, you can see a bit of the lake outside the window."

"Aha!" shouted a voice, making both Ron and Hermione jump a little in surprise. They turned towards where the sound was coming from to see that a little knight had arrived in the painting.

"What villains are these that trespass upon my private lands? Come to scorn at my fall, perchance? Draw, you knaves, you dogs!" The knight tugged a sword out and swung it violently in the air, causing him to tip over and land facedown on the grass.

"You alright?" asked Ron, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Get back, you scurvy braggart! Back, you rogue!" Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Ron took two steps away from the painting.

"Look," snapped Hermione, "we're late for class. Could you show us the way to the NorthTower?"

The knight beamed. "A quest! Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish bravely in the charge!"

"How are we supposed to follow him?"

." Hermione winced at the loud clanking noises coming from the knight's armor. "He'll go through portraits I suppose

Eventually, they did end up in a hallway where they could hear the murmur of voices from their class.

"Farewell!" yelled the knight. "Farewell, my comrades-in-arms! If ever you have need of noble heart and steely sinew, call upon Sir Cadogan!"

Ron snorted once Sir Cadogan was out of earshot. "Sure. I'll ask him if I need someone mental."

"We already have you," quipped Hermione, saved from Ron's response by a silver ladder dropping down from the classroom.

Upon entering the room, Hermione was confused. It looked like a cross between some old cat lady's attic and a circus fortune teller's tent.

"Huh." She turned to look at Ron, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep," he said. "I really wasn't expecting this." The two of them found seats near Neville, who was pulling at his collar.

_It is rather warm in here, _thought Hermione. They hovered, just slightly awkwardly, around the chairs, not sure if they should sit or not.

About a minute later, Ron asked, "Where is she?"

'Coincidentally,' a voice could suddenly be heard from the shadows.

"Welcome. How nice to see you in the physical world at last."

Hermione suppressed a snicker. The 'voice' was obviously their professor, Professor Trelawney. Although they were in a Divination class, that airy voice was too much of an exaggeration. Hermione would bet all her books that Professor Trelawney had just been standing there, waiting for one of them to ask where she was for a dramatic affect.

Although slightly surprised at her immediate doubts for this professor, Hermione cleared her mind of the doubts and tried to give Professor Trelawney an unbiased opinion. Of course, that was nearly ruined when she spotted her.

_Is she actually… _Large glasses magnified her eyes, which were wide and shimmering in the firelight. Draped in a gauzy, spangled shawl, countless chains and beads hanging off her neck, and arms and hands were covered with bangles and rings. The lights reflected off her jewellery, reminding Hermione of fractured glass.

_Over exaggeration much? _

"Sit, my children, sit." Hermione sank into her pouf, trying in vain to sit up straight. Gathered at the table with Neville and Ron, they exchanged a slightly dubious look.

"Welcome to Divination," said the professor, sitting down in a winged armchair in front of the fireplace, leaving Hermione to wonder how Professor Trelawney didn't start overheating. Her airy manner of talking reminded Hermione of the blonde Ravenclaw a year younger than her, Luna Lovegood. "My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."

Hermione was torn between doubt and interest. _Inner Eye, huh? _

"So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts." _The most difficult? Really? _With all those spells and complicated potions, Divination was hardly the most difficult.

"I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can only take you so far in this field."

Immediately, Hermione's doubt was ignored for her worry. Books and practice were what she relied on to get through school.

"Oh, stop smirking, Ronald." Hermione huffed dramatically and turned her head away from the smirking Gryffindor.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future." Professor Trelawney's eyes darted from face to face, stopping briefly to stare at Hermione's doubtful one. "It is a Gift granted to few."

Abruptly, she turned to Neville, startling him so much that he almost fell off his pouf. "You, boy. Is your grandmother well?"

"I think so," said Neville with an audible gulp.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear."

_Are all Seers so eccentric? _"Don't worry, Neville," comforted Hermione, "your grandmother's fine."

"You think?" Neville sank into his pouf, practically disappearing.

"Positive." _The worst would probably be a cold, _thought Hermione.

Professor Trelawney continued talking as if she hadn't just terrified Neville. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear, beware a red-haired man." The last part was directed at Parvati Patil, who shot a look at Ron and edged her chair away from their table.

"In the second term, we shall progress to crystal ball – if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever."

Hermione rolled her eyes, definitely not impressed.

Professor Trelawney requested Lavender Brown to hand her an enormous teapot, giving her an ominous prediction in the process. They divided into pairs, Neville, predictably, breaking a teapot in the process.

"Right," said Ron. "What can you see in mine?"

_Tea leaves. _"Uh… That looks kind of like a cross and then a sun." Hermione flipped to the pages, raising an doubtful eyebrow. "You're going to have 'trials and suffering' but the sun means 'great happiness'. Ridiculous."

"So I'm going to suffer but be happy about it," said Ron, looking slightly confused. "You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me." The two of them stifled their laughter as Professor Trelawney turned an accusing eye in their direction.

"My turn…" Ron peered into her teacup. "There's something that looks like… a torch? Maybe that means you'll show people something." He turned the cup around, making sure not to move the tea leaves too much. "There are four leaves over there. Just four. That's odd… Um... I think there's an hourglass, and it's quite large." Shrugging, Ron dropped the cup onto their table. "I give up."

Hermione nodded, glad that he didn't look more into the hourglass. She patted the small bulge in her robes which was the Time Turner.

_Maybe Ron has an Inner Eye,_ Hermione wondered.

The rest of the class passed with the two of them giggling over the ridiculous tea leaves, which sometimes looked like bunnies and sometimes looked like top hats. While the rest of the class cleared out, Hermione stayed back to fix the tear in her bag.

_I have a feeling this is going to happen a lot._

"A word with you, dear," said Professor Trelawney, gesturing to Hermione.

"Yes, professor?"

There are a pause in which the professor looked straight into Hermione's eyes, making the third year feeling rather awkward. "You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear, but I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances of the future."

Hermione stood there in silence, not entirely sure what to say. Thankfully, Professor Trelawney withdrew into the shadows before she had to respond.

_Well then._ Maybe the professor disapproved of how they had been laughing in class. Thinking to what she had just said, Hermione was sure that the professor's airy tone was coloured with a little irritation.

Shaking the thoughts of Transfiguration out of her mind, Hermione turned the Time Turner to go to her Muggle Studies class and then her Arithmancy class.

~.~.~.~.~

"Yeah, I have. I saw one the night I left the Dursleys'."

Ron turned his horrified gaze on Harry. The Slytherin had just told them, complained really, about how Professor Trelawney had predicted his death and the Grim in his future.

Hermione remained calm, cutting in her lunch. "Probably a stray."

"Hermione," said Ron, trying to get her to understand how serious this was, "if Harry's seen a Grim, that's – that's bad. My – my uncle Bilius saw one and – and he died 24 hours later!"

"Coincidence."

"You don't know what you're talking about! Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then." Hermione gestured at him as if that explained everything. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"

_You're not always right, _Ron thought, slightly angry with Hermione's over-confidence.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," continued Hermione. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!"

"You weren't even there to see it," scoffed Hermione.

"Professor Trelawney said-"

"Anyways," interrupted Melanie, "how was your Arithmancy class, Hermione?"

Immediately, the Ravenclaw brightened. "Much better than that absolute rubbish Divination class! Honestly, pretending to see omens in cups."

"There's no pretending ab-" Ron trailed off at the look Melanie shot him.

_Maybe it's better to let Hermione think what she likes. _Ron huffed grumpily. _Still, I saw the torch in her cup and I know it was a torch._

**{A/N Question: Favourite and least favourite HP books? Read and review.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	5. Of Hippogrifs and Those Who Don't Listen

**{A/N Chapter Five. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks once more for all your encouragement!) and shin obin (I will keep going. Thanks for the review!) for reviewing. And thanks to everybody who has read, favourited, or followed. Encouragement is a writer's medicine to writer's block :D}**

Harry grinned, breathing in the fresh air. There was nearly no sign of yesterday's rain except for the slightly damp grass.

_Too bad I can't go flying, _thought Harry mournfully, looking at the clear sky.

Thankfully, at lunch, Melanie had managed to divert Ron and Hermione's arguing before it had gotten too bad, though the two hadn't entirely forgiven each other. Sighing, Harry stifled the slight sense of dread he felt and continued along to the Care of Magical Creatures class.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" called out Hagrid, waving them over to his hut. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

_Are we going into the forest? _Harry breathed a sigh of relief as they turned away from the edge of the trees and headed towards some kind of paddock. Shivering with fear, Harry tore his eyes from the forest and focused on Hagrid.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here! That's it – make sure yeh can see – now, firs' think yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"

"How?" asked Draco from beside Harry.

"Eh?"

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy took his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which had been bound shut with some rope. Everybody else in the class held out books, which were all similarly bound except for Harry's.

Hagrid looked around, crestfallen. "Hasn' – hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?"

Seeing Hagrid's sullen expression, Harry spoke up. "Don't you just stroke the spine?"

Immediately, their giant professor smiled. "That's righ', Harry!" Hesitantly, everybody in the class took off the restraints and stroked the spines of the books.

"Oh, how silly we've all been," sneered Draco quietly. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess?"

"Because you're an idiot," teased Harry. "I got it."

"Oh, shut up, Harry." Harry mimed zipping his lips, thoroughly confusing the Pureblood.

"How'd you know to do that, Harry?" asked Ron, who'd just removed the wad of rope which had been binding his book.

"Melanie." Ron shot him an 'I-told-you-so' look.

_I have to remember to ask Melanie how she knew about the stroking the spine of the book thing, _Harry thought, mentally adding it to his to-do list. _She definitely didn't do it accidentally._

"I thought they were funny," protested Hagrid. Before anybody could say anything, Harry nodded earnestly and motioned for Hagrid to continue.

"Uh, righ' then. So, yeh've got yer books an' now yeh need the magical creatures. I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on…"

Draco muttered grumpily under his breath, stopping only when Harry stomped on his toes. The blond Slytherin opened his mouth to say something when Lavender suddenly squealed. Their eyes all turned to Hagrid, who was leading a group of…

"Hippogriffs!" exclaimed Hagrid happily. "Beau'iful, aren' they? So, if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer…"

Cautiously, Harry and Ron approached the fence. _They are interesting. _At seeing two of their fellow classmates approach (and not get attacked), some of the other students moved up as well.

"Now, firs' think yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do." Here, Harry nudged Draco to make sure he was paying attention.

"Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt."

Hagrid clapped his hands in excitement and asked the dreaded question. "Right – who wants ter go first?"

As one, the entire class backed away, even Harry and Ron. The Hippogriffs tossed their heads and flexed their wings, not at all liking being tethered. Harry saw one sharp claw dig into the ground like a knife into butter.

_Yikes._

Hagrid turned a pleading look to the class. "No one?"

_I know I'm going to regret this. _Summoning all his Gryffindor courage, Harry gulped and said, "I'll do it."

Those three words caused an outbreak of gasps around the class, who'd all heard about his grim, Grim prediction. Lavender and Parvati, who were as obsessed with Divination as Hermione was with books, warned Harry about his tea leaves.

_Oh, shut it. _

"Good luck," laughed Draco, pushing Harry forward. Turning around to glare, Harry sniffed haughtily and mimicked Draco's swagger as he walked up to the paddock fence.

Once he was over the fence, Hagrid yelled, "Good man, Harry! Right then, let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

One of the chains were untied, releasing the gray Hippogriff. There was a synchronized gasping from the other side of the fence, and Draco yelled, "Leave me something in your will!"

"I'll take your broomstick!" called out Ron, high-fiving Draco when Harry turned an irritated glance to them.

_Very funny…_

"Easy now, Harry," Hagrid said quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, but try not ter blink… Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"

Eyes watering, Harry stared straight at Buckbeak, who turned one fierce eye to Harry. _I wonder if this is what angry Hippogriffs look like._ Trying not to blink, Harry followed Hagrid's instruction to bow.

When nothing happened for a while, Hagrid said, "Ah. Right, back away, now, Harry. Easy does it-"

_Thank Merlin, _thought Harry when Buckbeak bowed instead of attacking him.

"Well done, Harry! Right, yeh can touch him. Pat his beak, go on!"

_Why not? _Harry reached a hand forward and patted Buckbeak's beak. The Hippogriff closed its eyes, looking what Harry assumed to be happy. Or at least content. At the very least, Buckbeak didn't look angry. _Hopefully._

Everybody broke into applause except for Draco, who mock-groaned. "I don't get anything from your will then!"

"And I was looking forward to riding that Nimbus."

"Righ' then, Harry. I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!" Hagrid ignored Harry's slight shake of his head, not taking no for an answer.

"Here goes nothing," muttered Harry. Before he knew it, he was in the sky on Buckbeak and back on the ground to another round of applause. Encouraged by Harry's success, the rest of the class entered the paddock area. Taking a breath of relief, Harry walked over on shaky legs to the edge, sat down, and watched everybody else.

_Well, I did want to go flying today._

"This is very easy," drawled Draco, with a hint the extreme arrogance that he seemed to have in the 'parallel world' where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Melanie were all Gryffindors. Sensing trouble, Harry stood up and shuffled just a little closer to Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe.

"I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" Draco leaned right in front of the Hippogriff, looking down on him rather patronizingly. Harry shuffled even closer, now only a few feet from Buckbeak. "Are you, you great, ugly brute?"

_You idiot! _With a jump, Harry tackled Draco to the ground. The two of them were on the grass, a safe distance away from the angry Hippogriff, but not before Buckbeak managed to flash out a claw and land a scratch across their arms.

"Damn," muttered Harry, pressing a hand over the scratch. At least it wasn't as bad as the one Draco got in the 'other world'.

Harry felt Draco pull him away back the way they fallen, just missing the Buckbeak's claws again.

"Thanks," said Harry. Draco nodded, grimacing and clutching his arm.

"We should probably get to the Hospital Wing." Sighing, the two of them stood up, leaning on each other and making their way into the castle. Behind them, there were shouts from angry students, angry Slytherins, yelling about how Hagrid should be sacked.

"They're over exaggerating." Harry shook his head in exasperation. "I really hope they don't sack Hagrid."

"I wouldn't mind if he got sacked," muttered Draco. "It's his fault that we're injured!"

Harry glared at him. "It's not his fault, it's yours."

"How is it my fault?"

"You insulted a Hippogriff! What did you think would happen?"

Draco rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else, though Harry barely heard something about informing his father about the teaching standards of Hogwarts.

~.~.~.~.~

Harry and Draco both made their way to the Great Hall at dinnertime, scratches wrapped with bandages. It wasn't bad enough for them to need a sling or anything, but the bandages would be rather inconvenient for a while.

"Harry!" Across the Hall, Hermione ran over anxiously. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." _I would be much better if Draco actually listened to Hagrid. _

Draco frowned. "I'm fine too, thanks for asking."

Hermione turned her glare on Draco, startling him as he'd never been the focus of Hermione's scolding before. "From what I've heard, it's your fault for not listening to Hagrid. He cleared specified for you to not insult Hippogriffs because it'll, how'd he say it, 'be the last thing you ever do' and what do you do? You go insult Buckbeak. You're lucky Harry was nice enough to push you over, otherwise who knows what the Hippogriff might've done to you."

Draco ducked his head sheepishly, looking a child who'd been scolded by his mother.

"Besides," added Ron, "calling anything or anyone a 'great, ugly brute' is sure to upset them."

"Maybe I'd pay attention in class if we didn't have that beast teaching us about beasts!" snapped Draco.

"Draco, you idiot," muttered Melanie, shaking her head in mock despair at the Slytherin. At once, Ron, Hermione, and Harry all started insulting/scolding/yelling at Draco, in that respective order.

_He never learns, _thought Harry as the blond boy held his hands up in surrender. By then, most of Hogwarts was in the Great Hall, and staring at the five of them, who quickly found seats at the Slytherin table.

"Well," said Ron, "you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back."

"Yep. Got told I'd die and got attacked by an angry Hippogriff."

After dinner, the five of them made their way into the 'private' library room after Madam Pince gave them all a 'subtle' warning about what would happen if any of the books were damaged. Their attempts to do homework failed; they could see Hagrid's hut out of the window in their private room.

"There's a light on in Hagrid's window," Harry pointed out.

Ron glanced at his watch. "If we hurried, we could go down and see him. It's still quite early…"

"I don't know." As always, Hermione was their voice of reason.

"I'm allowed to walk across the grounds," Harry pointed out. "Sirius Black hasn't got past the Dementors yet, has he?"

"Besides," coaxed Melanie, "Hagrid's probably feeling really torn up about the injuries in his first class."

"Well, count me out," said Draco, gathering up his books and exiting the library.

Harry shivered as he stepped out of Hogwarts. It was a rather cold evening for fall, and even colder because of the presence of the Dementors. Thankfully, he wasn't close enough to hear anything. Looking over at Melanie, Harry saw that she was also in a similar state, shivering and crossing her arms across her chest.

_I wonder if she hears the same things as I do._

They managed to shuffle, albeit awkwardly, over to Hagrid's hut under the Invisibility Cloak (after one of them had stepped on Ron's foot). Harry knocked on the door and Hagrid's voice sounded from inside, hoarse and tired.

"C'min." The four of them sidestep through the door and took off the Invisibility Cloak.

_Hagrid, _Harry thought, mentally groaning. He'd been drinking, heavily.

"'Spect it's a record," Hagrid said. "Don' recond they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before."

"You haven't been fired, Hagrid!" Hermione gasped.

Melanie shook her head. "He hasn't."

"Not yet," corrected Hagrid, taking a large gulp of the drink in his tankard. "But's only a matter o' time, I'n't, after Malfoy and you, Harry."

The mentioned boy rolled his eyes. "We're fine, Hagrid."

"He's sayin' it's still agony… covered in bandages… moanin'…"

Melanie laughed. "Sure, that's just Draco. He's milking this for all he's got."

Hagrid cheered up slightly, but sighed again. "School gov'nors have bin told, o' course. They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later… Flobberworms or summat… Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson's… all my fault…"

"Good thing Mal-" Ron stopped, correcting himself at Harry's glare, "Draco's dad isn't still a school governor."

"Besides," added Hermione, "it's all Draco's fault."

"We'll back you up," said Ron. The four of them all nodded earnestly, Harry adding that he would never have held Hagrid responsible for the injury.

Hermione took Hagrid's tankard and went to empty it outside. "I think you've had enough to drink."

Hagrid left to dunk his head into a water barrel outside, coming back inside less tipsy. It took him a few moments, but his eyes finally widened with realization.

"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH? YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN', YOU THREE! LETTIN' HIM!"

**{A/N Question: Lily and James, or Lily and Snape?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	6. Hiding and Hinting

**{A/N Chapter Six. For the classes, I'm going to say that: Slytherin&Gryffindor (Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Defence Against Dark Arts), G&R (Divination, Astronomy, Transfiguration), G&H (Herbology, History of Magic), S&R (Same as G&H), S&H (Same as G&R), H&R (Same as S&G). Other than Divination and Care of Magical Creatures, I won't write who has classes with who other than the fact that Hermione has Ancient Runes with Melanie. Did this make any sense? XD (I use that emoticon a lot. In fact, I use emoticons a lot because I think it's harder for people to tell what emotion I have online.) Let's just pretend that in this universe, the classes are like that.**

**Sorry for the long author's note, but I have to add a thanks to Guest (Thank you for taking the time to r/r!), Cookie Spasms (Thanks a bunch!), and Shin Obin (Glad you're reading!) for reviewing! Brownies for all!}**

"How did you do that?" Melanie heard Ron ask, somewhere further down the hallway.

_Oh, they're onto Hermione, _thought Melanie. She sped up to try and catch up with them to save Hermione from being interrogated.

"What?" said Hermione, a bit too sharp to sound confused.

"One minute you were right behind us, the next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."

"What?" Hermione opened her mouth in a small 'o' and closed it abruptly. "Oh, I had to go back for, um, something-"

"Hermione!" Melanie called out, pulling out a spare quill from her pocket. "Did you drop this? I saw you looking for something just now."

Hermione gave her a thankful look and took the quill. "Oh, yes. That's what I dropped. That's – Oh no." Her bag split from a seam, spilling out a dozen large, heavy books onto the ground.

"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" asked Ron.

"You know how many subjects I'm taking. Couldn't hold these for me, could you?" Not waiting for a response, she piled enough books into his arms to distract him for the moment. The red head cursed as the books tilted over and did a sort of lean-dance to keep them from falling.

"Hermione," whispered Melanie, handing a book for Ron to hold. "You could just put them in some secluded areas when you use the Time Turner instead of carrying them with you."

"How do you know about that?" asked Hermione sharply. Before Melanie had a chance to reply, Ron stopped talking.

_Phew. Saved again. _

Though, this was really all her own fault, wasn't it? Sighing, she resolved to try and be more quiet about these future and present events that she knew about.

"Oh, um, yes." Hermione shoved all her books back into her newly repaired bag, hoping that what she said was an appropriate response to Ron. "I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving." As she passed Melanie, Hermione muttered, "Don't think I'll forget that you know about the Time Turner."

_Oh, why do I do this to myself? _thought Melanie as she felt Steven's urge to face palm (_How does that even work?_).

~.~.~.~.~

It was the first Defence of Dark Arts class that would be taught by a _competent _professor and worth paying attention in. Their class was right after the Gryffindor and Slytherin DADA class, meaning that they'd managed to get some opinions from those students. Most of them had enjoyed the class (yes, even the Slytherins had admitted to it and had dropped their cold exteriors for a few brief moments to enthuse about their new teacher), and those that hadn't were judgemental about Professor Lupin as a person which was due to his shabby appearance.

Melanie clapped in excitement, much to Hermione's amusement. They arrived in the Defence Against Dark Arts classroom, watching as Professor Lupin cleared away some sheets on his desk and stood up.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Today's class will be a practical lesson. You will only need your wands." His instructions prompted another round of excited whisperings around the class.

_Just what I need; to mess up a spell on the first day of Defence Against Dark Arts with a proper professor._

"I hope it's not another pixie accident," Hermione whispered to Melanie.

"Don't worry," Melanie assured, "no pixies in this lesson." She saw Professor Lupin half-turn in their direction, as if he had heard them talking.

Hermione shot her a look. "How would you know?"

"I can't-"

"I know, I know, you can't tell me. But you can hint, can't you?"

Before Melanie could try and form a sentence to get Hermione to understand, Professor Lupin spoke.

"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Follow me." They were led through a deserted corridor and around a corner, where they saw Peeves. Amazingly, although the poltergeist's eyes landed on Melanie, he retreated after spotting Professor Lupin.

"How'd you do that?" asked a curious Ravenclaw, who'd definitely noticed that Professor Lupin was the cause of Peeves' retreat.

The werewolf smiled innocently. "Do what?" Before any of them could specify, he continued down the corridor and led them into the staff room for their lesson, explaining about their lesson on the way.

_I am not looking forward to this lesson, _thought Melanie.

What would her Boggart turn into? The Mirror of Erised hadn't worked for her, so perhaps the Boggart wouldn't either. Darkness, closed spaces, and being submerged underwater weren't exactly fears that a Boggart could turn into.

_Maybe it'll turn into a small, dark closet filled with water and trap me in there. _Shuddering slightly, she pushed the thought out of her mind.

"Don't worry," reassured Professor Lupin as the old wardrobe at the end of the classroom wobbled. "It's just a Boggart in there."

All the Ravenclaws, who'd obviously read up about Boggarts, and the non-Muggleborn Hufflepuffs stared at their DADA professor in astonishment. A Boggart was never 'just a Boggart.' Besides, nobody really wanted their worst fears shown.

Professor Lupin went into his professor mode, rather than his Marauder mode, and began lecturing. "Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, like this one, cupboards, and I've even seen one in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday, and I've asked to use it to give you all some practice, which the previous class already had. So," he paused, looking around the class, "what is a Boggart?"

Hands shot up around the class.

"It's a shape-shifter," said Hermione, clapping a hand over her mouth in realizing that Professor Lupin was about to choose somebody else. He smiled, slightly amused, and gestured for her to continue. "It, uh, it takes the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us the most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," nodded Professor Lupin. "So the Boggart in the wardrobe has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person, or people in this case, on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."

_What if they x-ray the wardrobe? _

"That means," continued Professor Lupin, distracting Melanie from her idea to bring a Boggart to an x-ray machine, "that we have an advantage over the Boggart. Have you spotted it, Melanie?"

"Oh." _Why did he pick me? _She could practically feel the repressed Ravenclaw nature of her classmates. Not entirely sure of the answer, she sifted through her memories until she found Harry's response. "There are so many of us that it won't know what shape it should be."

"Precisely." He beamed even more than when Hermione answered her question correctly. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart."

Here Melanie stopped listening, back to thinking about her x-ray idea. Somebody, she had no idea who, only that it wasn't her or Hermione, was chosen to give a demonstration with the Boggart.

"Padma!" yelled Professor Lupin, gesturing her to go forward to the Boggart, which turned into a zombie. A quick 'Riddikulus' made the zombie start dancing, cueing a round of laughter from the class.

_Oh, what am I supposed to do? _Not knowing what her fear was greatly hindered her ability to be able to counter it. _Crack _after _crack _sounded, bring Melanie closer and closer to the Boggart. Finally, it was her turn.

"Melanie, finish him off!" Reluctantly, she stepped forward to the clown wrapped in balloons.

For a long moment, she just stood there, waiting for the Boggart to change into a small, dark, water-filled cupboard. _Maybe it won't change. _Her hopes were crushed as the Boggart changed into a person.

_A person?_ Almost laughing at her fear, Melanie raised her cypress wand and pointed it at the Boggart.

"Ridi-" Her spell cut off as she noticed what the person was wearing; a dark blue robe decorated with blood-red stars.

Fear coursed through her, making her feel as cold as when the Dementors were close. Wand arm shaking, Melanie looked up at the person's face only to see that it was changing. There was something distinctly familiar about every face, though she wasn't able to match any details with each person. The face finally settled on a brown-haired male with a malicious smile on his face.

Realizing that the entire class was silent, watching her reaction to whoever it was, Melanie squeaked, "Riddikulus!" in a voice much too high. Thankfully, the spell worked. (After all, she'd spent an entire year studying and studying the theoretical for spells, which helped her somewhat.)

The stars floated off the robe, twinkling around them in a friendly matter and seeming more of a soft orange than the blood red. The person's robe turned into a waiter's outfit, and he was holding a tray of food. Though not exactly funny, it was a good enough distraction from her (completely confusing) fear.

Professor Lupin stepped forward, and the Boggart turned into a full moon. Calmly, he banished it and distributed points to everybody in the class, telling Hermione that she deserved hers for answering his question at the start of the class.

"Homework, kindly read the chapters on Boggarts and summarize it for me… to be handed in on Monday. That will be all." Before she could retreat, Professor Lupin tapped her on the shoulder. "Melanie? A word?"

Sighing, she waited for the rest of her class to file out of the room. "Yes, professor?"

Getting straight to the point, Professor Lupin asked, "What was your Boggart?"

A shrug. "Dunno. But why are you asking only me? I wasn't the only one to go up against the Boggart."

"The others could be easily explained. Childhood nightmares and fears, dark creatures lurking at the edge of our memory." He stopped here, looking at her still pale face. "But you weren't just scared. You were terrified."

_I'm getting really tired of repeating myself… _"Sorry, professor, but I really don't know what it was."

Still not looking satisfied with her 100% correct answer, he sighed. Professor Lupin looked at a point past her, hesitantly saying, "I don't know if anybody ever told you this but… I'm your godfather."

_Oh, that's nice. Godfath- Wait, what? _Melanie could feel Steven's amusement in her mind as she mind-babbled random syllables. "What?"

"Your parents made me your godfather," said Professor Lupin, smiling. His smile faded slightly as Melanie asked if he was also Harry's godfather, despite her knowing the answer (if she couldn't have fun with being omniscient, what was the point?).

"Maybe it's best you get to your next class," he said, not meeting her gaze. "If you remember what your Boggart means, come to me first."

After promising that she would tell him, which she had no intention of doing (if anything, she could always go to Hermione, who would no doubt be waiting to ambush her about how she knew about the Time Turner), Melanie left the classroom. However, she couldn't resist asking, "What was your Boggart, professor? I think it kinda looked like the moon."

Stifling snickers, she closed the door behind her and speed-walked to her next class.

~.~.~.~.~

"Melanie, I know you're avoiding me," panted Hermione, who had just managed to run down the corridor before Melanie had gotten away.

_Darn, she caught me. _"No, I haven't," Melanie denied, quite uselessly as the Ravenclaw just rolled her eyes.

"Yes, you weren't avoiding me. You were just purposely not being in the same area as me when you knew that I wanted to talk to you."

_Touché, _thought Melanie. _When did Hermione start being so sarcastic?_ "Well… Maybe I was avoiding you."

Her look turned to one of concern. "What's wrong, Melanie? You know you can tell me."

_I want to, but I can't and I'm getting really, really, really, **really** irritated at having to repeat myself. _Still, she tried anyways. "I know what's going to happen to-" Here she had to stop talking as her voice literally stopped working.

"To who?" urged Hermione. "Yourself? Ron? Me? Harry?"

Melanie felt her head shake against her will.

"Then who?" repeated Hermione. Melanie's mouth moved, but no sound came out.

"Are you being possessed?" Hermione asked sharply. Melanie shook her head earnestly.

"Not possessed. Just… I don't know how to explain it without it sounding like I'm being possessed."

"If you don't know how to say it without it sounding like that, I think it's safe to assume that you're being possessed."

"I'm not though! I just can't… say anything about it." Hermione raised a doubtful eyebrow but chose to stop pursuing the topic.

However, just before leaving the library, Melanie managed to say one word to Hermione.

"Us." She cast her friend a meaningful look before feeling herself start to walk away.

**{A/N Dundundundun… She told Hermione :O Well, kinda. Like it? Hate it? Either way, read and review :3 On a different note, however, I might not be able to get a chapter out next weekend just because: 1) My teacher's giving a bunch of homework for this week and I won't have time. 2) I kind of have writer's block. Noooo, my streak of updating once every week will be ruined…**

**Question: Least favourite canon pairing?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	7. Magic

**{A/N Chapter Seven. To the weird elemental stuff :D This chapter was kind of a third person with bits and pieces from everybody's mind instead of focused on one person like usual. I'm back with more HP! **

**Thanks to shin obin (Canon as in what happened in the books. For example, a canon pairing is Lily and James while a non-canon pairing is Lily and Snape. Hope this cleared it up for you!), Rey Abernath-Dixon-House (There seem to be a lot of people who are of that opinion. Do you ship Harry and Hermione, then, or some other pairing?), and Dazer95 (Thanks for the encouragement!) for reviewing.**

**Speaking of which, I should probably mention, once more, that I do not own Harry Potter. Meaning that I am not rich, nor am I famous (*tears*).}**

"So…" said Hermione, dragging out the syllable. _Why are we sitting by the lake? _And a rather secluded part of the lake at that.

"So…" Ron repeated.

_Why are we here? _Harry wondered. How had Melanie managed to convince Hermione to let them get away from the library, a sacred sanctuary to Ravenclaws?

"So…" chorused Melanie and Harry, sharing a grin.

"What are you saying 'so' for? You're the one that told me to fetch Ron and Harry." Under her breath, Hermione muttered, "I still don't understand why we couldn't meet in the library."

"I didn't particularly want to get kicked out of the library again," Melanie replied. _I swear she's part bat with that hearing, _thought Hermione. "Besides, I didn't want to break the trend of 'so's."

"What do you mean, 'get kicked out of the library?'"

"That, dear Ronald," announced Melanie with a smirk at Ron and a pat on the head, acting rather pompous, "is what I was just about to say. I want to see, well..." She tapped her bracelet as an answer.

"Oh," chorused the three others simultaneously.

Hermione furrowed her brow. "What am I supposed to do?" Questions bounced around her mind; how did Melanie expect them to try this without any instructions? Any advice? Any procedure?

With a sheepish smile, the Hufflepuff responded, "Yeah… That's what I can't help you with."

"But you make fire all the time!"

Shrug. "I can't guarantee that it'll be the same. After all, yours is dealing with something completely different. I don't know if you can 'create' earth like I create fire."

"Brilliant." Hermione rolled her eyes. "No instructions, no tips, no idea of what we're supposed to do. Just brilliant." She turned her glare on Harry, who was trying, and failing, to suppress his amusement at her irritation about not knowing what to do.

"C'mon, Hermione," pestered Ron, "you could just try. I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be good at figuring out puzzles."

"And I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave, so why don't you go first then, hmm?"

Ron rolled his eyes and stood up, though Hermione knew that he was trying to mask his slight nervousness as nonchalance.

"Alright." He gave Melanie a 'what-now' look. Receiving no response from her, Ron pointed at the water with his wand. Nothing happened. A few more tries with still no reaction.

"Come on, stupid water," he mumbled. "Do something." Ron waved his wand in front of the water, looking as though he expected a tsunami instead of…

"Nothing," said Hermione, sounding slightly smug. "Hey! That's cheating!"

There was a ripple in the lake where a rock had just landed. "That's not cheating," protested Ron. "You never set up any rules, anyways!"

"Sorry, Ron, but she's right." Harry laughed at the look of betrayal on his friend's face. _Well, he was the one that threw a rock into the lake and expected that to count as magical power._

Ron pouted slightly, before laughing. He huffed dramatically and turned his back on them as they dissolved into giggles. "Be that way." When the expected snickers at his childish behaviour didn't come, he turned around to see all three of them staring at the lake.

"It rippled," Harry explained to the clueless redhead.

Raising an eyebrow in suspicion, the Ravenclaw asked, "Did you throw something else into the lake?"

_Is that a pout I see?_ wondered Ron, staring incredulously at her. Indeed it was; Hermione felt slightly put off that Ron had managed to do something to the water before she even had a chance to try.

"Try again," urged Melanie. Obediently, Ron turned towards the water and tried waving his wand around again.

"Well," comforted Harry, "it's better than nothing." The one little ripple was all that happened, but it was something.

Encouraged by Ron's success, small though it was, all four of them turned to practice with their own elements. Fires started springing to life spontaneously in front of them.

Harry was sitting there, waving his hands around and trying to do something. Occasionally, there's be the little breeze, which would get him excited (distracted), although he didn't know if it was him or just a breeze.

Ron was trying, and failing, to replicate that little ripple in the lake.

Getting more and more frustrated, Hermione sighed. Since coming to Hogwarts, magic had felt so natural to her that it was irritating her beyond belief that this wasn't working.

Pointing her wand at the ground, she thought that perhaps she saw a blade of grass tremble. _Why isn't this working? _Maybe if she tried at the dirt instead of plants?

"Got it!" Harry's cry of delight distracted the others, who turned to see him suspending a quill in the air with a mini-tornado. After a few more seconds, the tornado fell apart and the quill dropped back to the ground.

He grinned and looked up at the clear sky. _If I could do that to myself I wouldn't even need my broom! _

Surprisingly, the small tornado had left him feeling drained, as if he'd spent the entire day casting spells rather than a few seconds performing little magic.

"Great job, Harry!" cheered Melanie.

One by one, they managed to cast small amounts of magic that coincided with their elements. Ron replicated his ripples and Hermione, who was put off at being the last one to do something magical though it was the more magical of the four, grew flowers all around them. Melanie noticed, with a small smirk, that the ones near Ron kept trying to shed their burrs on him.

Raising a doubtful eyebrow, the red haired girl teased, "Are you tired already?" Sure enough, three glares turned towards her.

"Well, this is easy for you," started Hermione.

"Since you do this all the time!" exclaimed Harry.

Ron stuck out a tongue at her, "Besides, maybe yours is the easiest since you can just create fire and don't have to worry about following the rules of nature."

"Rules of nature?" the other three echoed at him. The only response he gave was his ears turning pink.

"You know, not to create waves that go against the current and stuff."

Melanie shrugged. "Maybe you're right, but anyways-"

She was cut off as the world in front of them faded, four colours taking over their sight rather than the grounds of Hogwarts. Looking down, she could see that her bracelet had started glowing with magic.

_This again? _

~.~.~.~.~

"Harry? Ron? Hermione?" she called out. "Where are you three?" Wandering around the all white landscape, Melanie felt confused. There was no visible ground, yet she could walk on it. When she tried to touch it however, it seemed to be that there was nothing. With a simple thought, she could feel herself walking up some unknown, unseen stairs.

What disturbed her the most, though, was how simply alone she felt. Not only were her friends somewhere in this mysterious place (they could be right next to her and she might not even know it!), there was an absence in her mind where Steven usually was. Even if he didn't talk, Melanie could always feel the presence in her mind, which she'd subconsciously used to comfort herself after a nightmare or some omniscient memory. Last year had been extremely lonely and boring, until she could talk to Draco and Hermione.

"Melanie?" Harry's voice called from her… left? Right? Below? _I can't even tell which direction that was from!_

"Harry?"

"Melanie!" His voice was thick with relief and confusion. "Where are you… we? And where are Ron and Hermione?"

"I don't know Harry, but it might have something to do with our bracelets." She still couldn't pin point what direction her voice was coming from. "Harry, keep talking and turn around."

"Um…"

"Just do it!"

"Alright," he said, sounding confused. "But what are you trying to do? I mean, shouldn't we be trying to find-"

"Stop!" Unable to see her brother, Melanie asked, "Did you stop?"

Harry nodded before remembering that he wasn't visible to her. "Yep."

"Walk in the direction you're facing." Seeing as how this 'world' seemed to respond to her thoughts, she requested, _Please just let me see Harry, and then let me find both Ron and Hermione._

In a few seconds, a blurry figure approached from the distance. "Is that you, Harry?"

"Oh thank Merlin," he breathed, walking a bit faster as he understood what Melanie had been trying to do. "We just had to be lost here, didn't we? Now where are Ron and Hermione?"

"Present!" yelled two voices. Melanie felt herself being engulfed into a hug, vision obscured by a mass of bushy, brown hair.

"We found you! I was so scared; what if one of us had gotten lost in this place? It's near impossible to find anybody here unless they're close by, and could've just been wandering forever. What is this place, anyways, and how-"

Hermione stopped talking as somebody that wasn't one of them laughed.

"Show yourself!" Harry stepped forwards, reaching for where his wand should have been and instead only grabbed his robe. He could tell that the other three had tried the same thing from the rustling of fabric and faint cursing from Ron.

Four figures stepped forwards, obscured by some sort of smoke. Once clear of the smoke though, Harry got a good look at them.

Two of them were male, one with shoulder length, black hair and grey eyes, the other with short, red hair and green eyes. The one with black hair was smirking mischievously as the other man started coughing from the smoke.

The other two were female, one with long, black hair and dark, brown eyes, the other with red hair tied up into a bun and shining blue eyes. The latter seemed unaffected by the smoke while the former seemed irritated, though in the way you'd be at your friend for doing something semi-stupid but amusing.

"Was that necessary?" The red haired man coughed out, shooting a glare at the other man.

"But of course, dear friend. How else would we make an impression?"

This time it was the woman with red hair who spoke. "Enough with making impressions; I think we may have startled the children." At that, the four of them all turned to look at the confused Hogwarts students, of which only Melanie had any weapons. A small handful of flames wasn't much, but it was only a warning to the adults that she could do more and wouldn't hesitate if they threatened them.

"Impressive," commented the black haired man, nodding in approval. "You would do well under my supervision."

"Who are you?" demanded Ron, sounding slightly peeved that they were being somewhat ignored.

"What my friend," here Hermione stopped to elbow Ron in the stomach, "means, sir, is if we may inquire about your names and this place? Are you lost as well?"

The black haired woman spoke for the first time. "Are you a Ravenclaw?" At Hermione's tentative nod, the woman smiled. "Then the Hat has chosen well. I am Rowena Ravenclaw, and I would like to congratulate you on being in my House. 'Wit beyond measure…'"

"'Is man's greatest treasure.'" Suddenly, she blinked rapidly, as if just realizing what had just been said. "Wait, what?"

"I am Rowena Ravenclaw." At their confused looks, Rowena scoffed. "Is it really so hard to comprehend, children? My first name is Rowena, and my surname Ravenclaw. Thus why the House at Hogwarts is Ravenclaw…"

"I don't think they're confused about that, Ro," said the other woman.

"Then you must be Helga Hufflepuff!" Melanie's eyes grew wide at meeting her House's founder, something nobody alive (at the moment, that is) had done.

"I suppose that means you are a Hufflepuff?" At her earnest nod, Helga cast the young red head a warm smile.

The red haired man waved at the two boys. "So which one of you is the brave Gryffindor?" He noticed the looks the four shot each other but said nothing.

Ron raised a tentative hand before beaming when he got a warm smile as well. In sudden realization, he turned towards the only one left.

_If she's Ravenclaw, she's Hufflepuff, and he's Gryffindor, that means that…_

Seeming to be on the same track as he was, Hermione said, "So you must be-"

"Salazar Slytherin." His smile at Harry faded when he noticed four glares being shot at him.

There was instant chaos as the four Hogwarts students started yelling, calling him names such as 'traitor' (Melanie), 'turncoat' (Hermione), 'disgrace' (Harry), and 'git' (Ron). Melanie stopped momentarily, realizing that he was the one who said that she'd do well under his supervision. _What did he mean by that? _But before she could ponder the thought any further, the ground beneath them shook violently, startling them enough to stop their yelling.

"What," demanded Godric, "is the meaning of this?"

Ron picked himself off the ground and yelled, "The meaning of this is that we're stuck in this weird, white world with a bloody traitor!" The other three were up and by his side at the dark looks cast at their friend by the founders.

"What do you mean 'traitor'?" questioned Ravenclaw, always the logical and curious one.

"What he means by a 'traitor' is that Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts after you all decided to continue letting Muggleborns learn magic! He even left a _basilisk _in the school to 'purge' Hogwarts when his heir came!" Harry shuddered at the thought of the basilisk and gripped the scar on his arm from the fang. He could still remember the burning pain.

"Not to mention that one of our best friends is a Muggleborn," added Melanie. "We won't let you hurt her." She, Harry, and Ron formed a wall in front of Hermione, who was touched and exasperated at how the boys insisted on defending her even though they didn't have any means of defending themselves, let alone her.

"First off, we already know about the basilisk," said Helga.

She was about to say something else when Hermione cried, "You let a basilisk live in a school filled with children? Did you ever think about what might happen if somebody like, I don't know Voldemort, was to come and _use the basilisk to try and kill everybody?_"

"That was never supposed to happen!" snapped Godric. "Slin was only there to defend the school, and he knows that he's not supposed to hurt any of the students."

Harry snorted in disbelief. "So much for that." Pulling up his sleeve revealed a scar, still highly noticeable on his skin since it was a rather recent scar.

The founders exchanged an incredulous and despairing look before Helga defended, "Nevertheless, that was not Salazar's fault. It was a group decision, a rather bad one though, to keep Slin there. And he hasn't left the school."

"Well," said Melanie, "maybe that happens later, but it still happens, doesn't it?"

Godric sighed. "Sal, do you think you could find out what these children are talking about?"

"Perhaps, but not if you call me 'Sal'." His tone expressed his distaste for that nickname. "Honestly, 'ric, I thought I had already told you this, but maybe a Gryffindor's lack of memory is made by abundance of stupidity."

Both Ron and Godric's protests were ignored as Salazar seemed to go into a sort of 'trance', staring off into space.

Ron huffed before turning to his friends, who were all suppressing their laughter. "You shouldn't be laughing! After all, we're all Gryffindors."

With a smirk, Melanie started, "Yes, but aren't you-"

"-always the one who says-" continued Harry.

"-that you're the only-" Hermione added on.

"-'true Gryffindor'?" all three of them said together, bursting into loud laughter at the betrayed look on the 'true' Gryffindor's face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The Founder of said House looked at the four supposed 'Gryffindors.'

Before any of them could answer, though, a gray mist quickly took over the area, There was a groan and the four students heard one of the adults groan something about how they hoped this wouldn't happen before they blacked out.

~.~.~.~.~

"-rry? Harry?" The boy opened his eyes blearily to see Draco hovering above him.

"Huh? Where's-" Harry looked over and saw the other three, who all seemed to be 'waking up' as well.

"Finally," huffed Draco. "What the hell were you doing here, just sleeping or whatever? One second I look over and you're all talking, and then you just collapse!"

"Never took you to be the mother hen type, Draco," teased Melanie, to which the boy sniffed haughtily.

After a bit more talking, in which Draco stated firmly that he was not a mother hen and that he should've just left them 'sleeping' to freeze to death or get dragged in by the squid, the blond left in mock anger and hurt. Once he was gone, the four exchanged a glance.

"Did we just…"

Harry finished Ron's wonder-filled statement. "Meet the Founders? Yep."

**{A/N: Okay, that was… That took a long time to write. Writer's block finally got to me. D: Anyways, there probably won't be an update next week, and perhaps the one after, as I'll be editing and adding to previous chapters. Not sure how long that will take but I just feel like adding some things before I post another new chapter. Thank you for all the patience! Read and review, please!**

**I was going to leave a long question, but let's go with a simple one instead: Favourite Marauder?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	8. Fire

**{A/N Chapter Eight. So, so sorry for the long wait, but I've been really busy and being busy has kinda diminished my writing motivation. Combining that with writer's block, and… well… Yeah.**

**Anways, I've edited the first year, mostly small edits, and I'll get to the second year sometime this week, though I am leaving for camp pretty soon. Again, sorry for the long wait, and here's some thanks to:**

**That Elusive Reader (Aw, shucks, thanks for all your reviews! Glad you're back and thanks a bunch for reading!) and Dazer95 (Thank you! James reminds me a lot of Sirius, but a less flirty version for some reason. xD). **

**Okay, onto the chapter!}**

"Did we actually just-"

"Yes, we did," snapped Hermione, "and I would really appreciate it if you stopped talking long enough for me to finish this Potions essay." The wiped a hand across her brow, leaving an ink mark. Along with that, there were splatters of ink decorating her face, clothes, and the area around her.

The poor library table would probably never recover from all that ink.

Ron huffed. "Well, don't tell me that you're not excited that we met the _bloody Founders_." He really couldn't believe that it happened just last week.

As one, Harry and Melanie rolled their eyes.

"Honestly-" started Melanie.

Harry continued her sentence, grinning. "-the two of you act-"

"-like children!"

"So what if-"

"-we met the Founders? Nothing-"

"-really changed and we-"

"The two of you really need to stop pulling a Fred and George on us." Ron groaned, imagining the chaos if the two of them really did become Fred and George.

Shuddering at the thought, he pushed the idea of mass destruction of Hogwarts via pranks out of his mind.

"Honestly, this is getting beyond strange." Hermione stopped writing, absentmindedly tapping her quill against her cheek. "There are more twins than just you two and Fred and George, but none of them seem to be able to continue each other's sentences like you're able to."

"Maybe," started Melanie, making the other two groan, "this-"

"-is because we're-"

"awesome?" they declared together, laughing when Ron and Hermione face palmed.

"Yes, that's what it is," Hermione agreed sarcastically, turning back to her ridiculously long essay.

"You know that Snape's just gonna give you a bad mark because he won't be able to read that, right?" Squinting at the paper, Ron tried to read some of what was written. Barely legible through all the extra ink splatters, he shook his head in dismay.

_Of course Hermione has to go overboard with this essay. Oh... I should really start mine, shouldn't I?_

A roll of her eyes. "That's what this spell is for, Ronald." Waving her vine wood wand, the ink splatters cleared up in a second.

Harry pouted. "I sure could have used that spell this summer."

"Yes, you definitely could've," agreed Melanie, ignoring her brother's protests that she wasn't supposed to agree with him. "But you know that you couldn't have used the spell, right?"

"...I knew that."

"Besides, I only just learned the spell a few days ago from Rowena," added Hermione casually, as if learning spells from the Founders was an everyday occurrence.

She looked up from her writing when she noticed three pairs of eyes staring at her incredulously.

"You mean to tell me-"

"-that you learned-"

"-a spell from the bloody Founder?"

Hermione groaned. "They've got you doing it too, Ron."

"Back to the bloody spell, Hermione!"

"Well, to answer your question, yes I did learn a spell from Rowena Ravenclaw." Here she stopped to roll her eyes. "Yes, I understand that this is something just short of astonishing, but please don't-"

"Please don't what?" demanded Ron. _Honestly, Hermione… _"You learned a spell _from somebody who's dead_, not to mention the fact that she _founded Hogwarts, _and you're trying to play this off as something normal?"

"I was going to ask you to please not act as you just did, but I suppose there's no point of saying that now, is there?"

"Um…" interrupted Harry, looking slightly confused as he pressed a finger to the gem on his bracelet. "Salazar wants me to ask Hermione if she would be willing to teach him the spell?"

"And Rowena wants me to say that no, I won't, especially since she was the one who taught me the spell."

Ron sighed and threw his hands into the air. "Are we all just acting like talking to the Founders is some normal thing?" A muffled sound could be heard from somewhere, though he had the distinct feeling that he was the only one to hear it.

Deciding to mimic Harry, Ron pressed a finger to the blue gem on his bracelet. There was a sound rather loud and high pitched before a voice came into focus.

"Finally," said somebody's exasperated voice. "I have been trying to do this ever since yesterday. Now could you please tell the red haired girl that she needs to do the same as you three so that we can talk to you properly?"

Trying to get over his awe of speaking to Godric Gryffindor, Ron relayed his message.

As soon as Melanie's finger touched the amber stone, everything around them faded into a white mist.

~.~.~.~.~

"Well," remarked Ron, "at least we don't seem to be in four different sections like yesterday."

"We seem to have lost the Founders, though."

A voice echoed out of the mist in answer to Hermione's sentence, scaring the students. "Not quite."

An exclamation of pain could be heard before a woman, presumably Helga Hufflepuff, said, "Honestly, Salazar, must you startle the children every time?" As she spoke, the words grew louder and clearer, indicating that she was moving towards them.

They could clearly hear the pout as Salazar responded with, "But what fun is there if I cannot scare them?"

As they bickered, and their voices grew louder as they drew nearer, the four students exchanged incredulous looks and pinched each other to ascertain that no, they were not dreaming.

"Well, anyways," interrupted an annoyed sounding female voice, "I believe that we should get on with the introductions, shouldn't we?"

By then, the four Founders were in view of the children, who were still watching in a stunned silence.

"The bloody Founders," muttered Ron, rubbing the red spot on his arm where he'd pinched himself quite hard. "Wish I could tell someone and have them believe me."

"You'd probably get sent off to St. Mungos to be examined first thing," said Melanie. "Though, I'm surprised that you haven't already been quarantined there permanently."

"...Oy!"

"Now I can see that you're brimming with questions," Rowena said to the chagrined Hermione, "and I myself know what it feels like to be eager for knowledge."

Taking that as "How does this world work?" _Really, Hermione? The first question I ask isn't even about Hogwarts, but about this 'world'?_

"This is a thought based world, as you call it, though realm might be a more appropriate term for it." She paused for a second, considering the name before continuing. "Other than that, even we do not know much about it."

"How are you here?"

"Ah, this is where things start to get confusing." Taking a deep breath, Rowena continued. "From what I can recall, we planted 'memories' of ourselves within these bracelets at the age of which we appear at this moment. We were told to do this by those before us, who had planted their memories into these very bracelets."

"These memories, us at the moment, know what has happened before, and can figure out what happens later if we concentrate, though that can be very confusing to do. That is why we had Salazar do the memory searching only as a last resort."

"So basically, you're here but not here at the same time," summarized Ron.

"Speaking of finding things out from the future, why did you leave Hogwarts?" Harry's question was directed at Salazar, who looked reluctant to answer.

Stiffly, he answered, "I had business elsewhere to attend to and could not return."

"What type of-" The question remained unfinished as the white mist around them started swirling again, pulling them out of the 'realm' once more.

~.~.~.~.~

The door to their private room opened, revealing Madam Pince looking around in suspicion. Once she left, Ron scowled at the closed door.

"Seems like we get pulled out of the other realm whenever somebody else is nearby," noted Hermione.

_That's going to get very inconvenient, _thought Melanie. _Especially since it seems that we can only visit there every once in a while._

The four of them spent the rest of the day working, Ron and Harry badgering Melanie and Hermione for help with their Potions essays. Eventually, the two girls relented and agreed to be their editors, having themselves a good laugh at all the mistakes.

Back in the Hufflepuff Common Room, Melanie nearly jumped a foot in the air when she heard a voice in her head that wasn't Steven.

**_Yes, here we are. This is how I'll be able to communicate with you, though I don't think any of the others are able to do this._**

_Um... Mister Slytherin?_

**_Please, just call me Salazar._**

_...Right. Salazar it is._ Melanie shook her head at how ridiculous it was, talking/thinking to the Founder of the Slytherin House._ Not to be rude or anything, but was there a reason that you decided to talk to me inside my head?_

**_Now that you mention it, yes there was. _**He seemed to sigh for a moment. **_I feel as though I should tell you why I had to leave Hogwarts._**

_Shouldn't you tell us all that? Especially the other three Founders?_

**_You must've noticed how I especially said that I should tell 'you' this, not the others. This is something that affects only us._**

_... Is it something about fire then?_

**_I am surprised that you weren't Sorted into Ravenclaw with that sort of logic deduction. _**

Not sure how to respond to a compliment from a memory, Melanie stayed silent and waited for Salazar to continue speaking.

**_Right, well, I suppose that I should tell you what it is I wanted to tell you._**

_Yeah, you probably should._

Perplexed at how he seemed to clear his throat in her mind, Melanie nearly missed what he 'said' next. **_As you may or may not have guessed, fire is, out of the four elements, the most separate from the others. Those who wield this element have no real tie to any physical thing, making it easier to use by easier to be affected by it as well._**

_...What exactly does this have to do with you leaving Hogwarts?_

**_I'm getting there; don't be so impatient. _**Salazar stopped talking for a moment. **_Fire is also the most volatile element, and dangerous. The reason I left was because fires started to spontaneously form around me, as they had for every fire user before me._**

**{A/N Again, sorry for such a long delay. And to think that there'll be a three week one so soon as well. My apologies for the rushed chapter, but I'll fix it eventually when I'm editing all my stories. I just really wanted to get something out after such a long time, and this is what happened. This chapter is mostly dialogue, though, and I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to actually post it. I'll add more later, I promise.**

**It took a long time for me to actually write this chapter, as I'm not entirely sure how to characterize the Founders and how they would react, so I'm just improvising as I'm going on (me making excuses for such a late chapter). **

**Question: What area of magic would you want to specialize in if you were a witch/wizard?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	9. Halloween

**{A/N Chapter Nine. Yay, I managed to write another chapter! These chapters are getting slightly harder to write, as less of it is based on the books now. BTW, still not J.K. Rowling.**

**Thanks to FireIceAirGuardian93 (Thank you so much for the encouragement! Glad you like these stories. :D), Dazer95 (Thanks for the review as always! Would you work at St. Mungos then?), and That Elusive Reader (Busy life plus writer's block is just death for me. DX Thanks for the review!) for reviewing! Your encouragement keeps me going, all of you readers, favourites, followers, and reviewers! Onto the story.}**

Melanie sighed. Everything around her was still… normal.

_Seems like it was just yesterday that I learned that fire element users sometimes go insane. _She scowled. _Oh yeah, it was just yesterday._

**Aren't you exaggerating just the tiniest bit? **Steven 'said', raising a metaphorical eyebrow.

_…How many voices are there going to be in my head? _Melanie sighed. _I think this is just the first sign of my insanity._

**I would argue with that, as I'm actually another person in your head, not just a voice.** When she remained silent, Steven said, **That didn't help, did it.**

_Nope._

Her 'lesson' from Salazar yesterday had taught her that she was, almost certainly, someday going to get overwhelmed by her fire powers. The theoretical explanation for this, according to him, was because fire isn't tied to anything. As well, the more she burned with fire, the more likely it would be for her to burn more and want to burn more.

He had known about this because the bracelets were passed down from generation of elemental users to generation of elemental users. Apparently, Salazar had chosen to leave before he could start burning everything around him, and the reason for his departure had snowballed into him being some evil, dark wizard that had abandoned Hogwarts because he didn't want Muggleborns to learn magic.

The worst game of Broken Telephone ever.

Other than her, the other elements were tied to something physical, but that meant that the more they used their magic, the harder it would be for them to be away from it. Harry, for example, would start to find it difficult not to constantly be flying.

She shook the thoughts out of her mind and went back to watching the Slythering Quidditch practice.

Unlike last year's practices, Draco and Harry were talking this year. Unfortunately, this also meant that the practices were more chaotic.

Melanie laughed as both Seekers took off after the Snitch. The small, golden ball floated over to where they were sitting, and Melanie, Ron, and Hermione ducked just in time for Draco and Harry to zoom over their heads.

"I win!" yelled Draco, holding up the Snitch in victory. The small, fluttering wings were peeking out between his fingers.

Harry pouted. "Only because you were closer to the inside of the Quidditch pitch! You had less distance to travel."

From beside her, Melanie heard Hermione sigh.

"Harry, you do realize that the Quidditch pitch is in 3D and you could've used the Z-axis to go over Draco, right?"

Both purebloods stared at her in confusion, but Melanie laughed as Harry looked down, embarrassed.

"Yeah… I knew that."

"Anyways," said Draco, changing the topic after coming to the correct assumption that they ere talking about some Muggle thing, "did you hear about the first Hogsmeade visit?"

"Where'd you hear about that?" asked Ron.

"Professor Snape told us. Apparently, it's at the end of this month."

Harry and Melanie shared a look; neither of them would be going to Hogsmeade. Besides the fact that they didn't have permission forms (_Damn Dursleys_), there was also the fact that Sirius Black was 'after Harry'.

Seeming to have realized that the two of them were silent, Hermione said, "I'm sure you two will be able to go next time. They're bound to catch-"

Immediately, all three of them shushed Hermione, who had clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something?"

"Because you are, Draco," confirmed Melanie with a grin. "It's a secret."

Before the blond could ask what exactly this secret was, Flint called him over to do some laps around the pitch.

"Well that was convenient," Ron remarked. "Anyways, he's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade. Ask Snape-" He stopped suddenly as if realizing what he had just said. "You know what, never mind. You should probably ask Dumbledore."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't think Professor Dumbledore would like Harry out of the castle anymore than any of the other professors."

Sighing, Harry forced a smile. "Just don't forget to bring us some stuff from Hogsmeade."

~.~.~.~.~

Over the month, Melanie realized that her being there had started to cause the two 'universes' to differ, though their different Houses didn't seem to stop Crookshanks from finding Scabbers.

Like last year, whenever Harry and Draco had a Quidditch practice, the other three would wait and watch from the stands, though Flint seemed reluctant to let other Houses watch them practice. He did, however, allow only the three of them to watch when they offered to bring breakfast with them.

But the others on the team were quite annoyed when Flint decided that they would have longer, more intense practices with a small break in the middle.

Harry decided not to ask Dumbledore if he could go to Hogsmeade, but Melanie had gotten hers signed by Professor Lupin. She didn't tell anybody and decided instead to stay at Hogwarts with her brother. For some reason, Hogsmeade didn't appeal to her as much as others, almost as if she knew what to expect from it already.

Classes were getting progressively busier, which made Ron gripe that they didn't have their alternate universe memories to help him finish his work. But those memories only seemed to pop up at the end of the year, not including their first year, which was conveniently the same time as their exams. Their curriculum started to include more fun spells and magic than previous years. Despite this, Defence Against the Dark Arts was still most people's favourite class.

There were some people who judged Professor Lupin because of his old robes, though that group of people didn't involve Draco this time. He'd even admitted that Defence Against the Dark Arts was his favourite class as well.

With the two elective classes that they were taking, Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, there was a general negative reaction towards them.

Care of Magical Creatures was extremely boring, as Hagrid seemed to have lost his nerve. But it was still better than the stifling tower room, where they were stuck trying to understand shapes and symbols of tea leaves.

Of the four of them, Ron seemed to be the only one that had any talent at Divination, which was a difference from Melanie's other memories that she couldn't explain. He'd managed to predict 'an accident in the sky' the day before Draco and Harry crashed midair on their brooms.

One day in the middle of October, Melanie found herself starting to struggle in Potions class more than usual. The potions they'd been asked to brew was difficult, and she had missed almost the entire last year.

It was because of that that she had the idea of asking for make-up Potions lessons, though that was only partially because she actually needed them. Melanie's other memories hinted that there was something about Professor Snape that none of them knew, so she was quite curious about what it could be. All she knew was that he didn't seem to want to look her in the eyes and seemed almost unable to look into Harry's green ones.

After their class had been dismissed, she'd lagged back to ask him professor if he would be willing to help her. When he hadn't responded, Melanie started to leave before he spoke.

"You are to come down to the dungeons every Friday evening after dinner until however long it takes for the lesson to get through your thick skull. Be warned that if you miss a lesson or show any amount of incompetence larger than your usual amount, there will be no further lessons."

And so every Friday, she went down to the dungeons for her lesson. Melanie had been relieved to find that the lessons were more than just written instructions on the board.

Professor Snape had, however unwillingly, complimented that her potions making skills were 'better than the rest of those idiots' that he had to teach. He'd estimated that she'd be caught up on second year material by Christmas, and had even agreed to give private teaching on the rest of third year and even fourth year.

Unlike her rising success in Potions class, the rest of the classes progressed the same way as they always did for Melanie; shakily and barely.

Although she was able to cast the spells to the bare minimum of passing, she was unable to do any more than that unless under extreme circumstances, like the Boggart or when a Red Cap had almost hit her eye.

The end of the month came around, and the morning of Halloween was extremely loud.

Harry sat glumly at the Gryffindor table, only slightly comforted by his friends' promises to bring him something back from Hogsmeade.

Both Potters accompanied Ron, Hermione, and Draco to the entrance hall and watched as they left. Once they did, the two of them decided to head over to library. Melanie followed as Harry led them on a long-winded path towards the library, though halfway there he seemed to change his mind and started walking in a new direction.

Unfortunately, that led them face-to-face with Filch. "What are you doing?" asked the grumpy caretaker.

"Nothing," said Harry the same time as Melanie said, "We were heading to the Owlery."

"Well, hurry up then!" snapped Filch, glaring at them as they left.

"Come on, let's go see Hedwig." Melanie grabbed Harry's arm and he brightened slightly at the thought of being around the owls.

Before they could make it there, though, a voice sounded from inside one of the rooms they passed. "Melanie?"

The two of them doubled back and saw Professor Lupin. "What are you doing?" he asked, though the question seemed directed towards Melanie. "Why aren't you at Hogsmeade?"

Harry looked at her, confused. Why had Professor Lupin only asked her? His confusion only grew when Melanie shrugged and said, "I didn't feel like it."

_Didn't feel like it, _thought Harry. That was an odd way to phrase that she couldn't go because she didn't have permission.

Professor Lupin saw that Melanie was looking at her brother. "Ah. Well, why don't you two come in? I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for our next lesson."

"A what?" asked both Harry and Melanie. They followed the professor into his office, where, in the corner, there was a very large tank filled with water. The only thing inhabiting the large tank was a green creature with little horns and long fingers.

"I'm going to guess that that's a Grindylow."

Professor Lupin chuckled before speaking. "You're right, Melanie. That's the Grindylow, a water demon." He turned his gaze on the creature for a moment. "We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the Kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle." His assurance that it wouldn't be too difficult was slightly ruined when the creature bared its sharp teeth and curled its fingers, as if strangling somebody.

"Question: Are we going to be in the water for this?" asked Melanie, slightly anxious. When she got a nod in response, she sighed.

Harry sympathized. "Well, at least Ron's going to have fun with this."

Oblivious to their plight, their professor asked, "Cup of tea? I was just thinking of making one." Feeling only slightly awkward, Harry and Melanie both nodded.

"Sit down," continued Professor Lupin. "I've only got teabags, I'm afraid. But I daresay you've had enough of tea leaves?" When both students scowled, he chuckled and addressed Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me. You're not worried, are you?"

For a second, Harry remembered the dog he'd seen when leaving Privet Drive and thought about mentioning it. "No." He didn't want Professor Lupin to think that he was actually worried about this.

"Anything worrying you, Harry?"

"…No." He received a swat over the head from Melanie for lying. "Actually, yes. You know the day we fought the Boggart."

"Come on, Harry," Melanie interjected before Harry could get a response from Professor Lupin. "He's not _that_ old and his memory shouldn't be _that_ bad."

Fighting laughter at Professor Lupin's mock sad face at Melanie's taunt, Harry continued. "Why didn't you let me fight it?"

Professor Lupin sounded surprised. "I would have thought that was obvious, Harry."

"Why?"

"Well, I assumed that if the Boggart had faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldemort." When Harry didn't say anything (though he was mostly a little shocked that somebody other than him, Melanie, and Dumbledore had said 'Voldemort'), Professor Lupin continued. "Clearly, I was wrong. But I didn't think it a good idea for Lord Voldemort to materialize in the staffroom. I imagined that people would panic."

"Yep," agreed Melanie. "They would probably panic even more if he was through some forbidden door on the third floor though, huh, Harry?"

He rolled his eyes. "Definitely. But I didn't think of Voldemort; I remembered those Dementors." The second part was addressed towards Professor Lupin.

"I see… Well, well, I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is just that: fear. Very wise, Harry."

From beside him, Harry heard Melanie mutter, "Or maybe he fears hearing screaming in his head as that might be a sign of his insanity." He mock glared at her and received a grin in response.

There was a long moment of silence before their professor spoke up again. "So you've been thinking that I didn't believe you capable of fighting the Boggart?"

"Well… yeah. Professor Lupin, you know the Dementors-"

There was a knock at the door that interrupted Harry. "Come in," said Professor Lupin.

Professor Snape of all people walked in, carrying a smoking goblet. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it at the sight of Harry and Melanie.

"Ah, Severus. Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

The smoking goblet was set down on the desk, and Professor Snape's eyes wandered between the three of them.

"I was just showing Harry my Grindylow." Said creature pressed its face against the side of the tank.

"Fascinating," drawled Professor Snape in a voice that Harry wasn't sure was sarcastic or not. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes I will."

"I made an entire cauldronful if you need more."

"I should probably have some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus."

"Not at all," said Professor Snape. He started to back out of the room.

"Bye, Professor Snape!" chirped Melanie in a cheerful voice as she waved, receiving a half-hearted one from him in response.

Harry looked at her in disbelief. Did she really just get the grumpiest professor ever to wave at her?

He was distracted from that by the goblet, however, which Professor Lupin had picked up from the table. _A smoking goblet definitely is not normal…_

"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me," he explained. "I have never been much of a potion-brewer and this one is particularly complex. Pity sugar makes it useless." He took a sip and Harry looked at the goblet in suspicion.

"Why-"

"I've been feeling a bit off-color," he said. "This potion is the only thing that helps. I am very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape; there aren't many wizards who are up to making it." He took another sip, and Harry was very tempted to knock the goblet out of his hands. He could just create a very strong breeze and act innocent…

"That's right, Professor Lupin," said Melanie. Harry recognized the mischievous tone in her voice. "You have been looking rather pale lately… Almost as pale as the moon."

Professor Lupin choked on a sip of his potion for a second. "Ah, yes. I suppose I do look rather pale."

Harry couldn't resist. "Professor Snape's very interested in the Dark Arts." When Professor Lupin only nodded, he continued. "Some people reckon… Some people reckon he'd do anything to get the Defence Against the Dark Arts job."

His words were ignored as the goblet was drained of the potion.

"Disgusting. Well, I'd better get back to work. See you both at the feast later."

"Right," said Harry as he put his empty teacup down. He cast one more suspicious look at the empty goblet, which was still emanating smoke, before leaving.

Once they were safely out of earshot, Harry turned to Melanie in disbelief. "Is Professor Lupin nuts? He just drank that potion! What if-"

"No it's not poison, no it's not harmful, no I'm not telling you how I know." When he stared at her, she continued. "You can go ahead and tell Ron and Hermione, but I doubt either of them would agree with me. However, I know that it wasn't poison."

"How do you know that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Look, if Professor Lupin's not dead by the end of the week, you'll know I'm right."

They headed towards the library, where they worked (and procrastinated) until Ron and Hermione were back.

"There you go. We got as much as we could carry." Ron dumped a shower of colourful sweets onto the table in front of them.

"Ron, you idiot," scolded Hermione before shoving all the sweets into her bag. Just in time as Madam Pince came over with a suspicious look on her face. Once the librarian was gone, Hermione explained, "She's got ears like a bat."

The four of them talked for a while, mostly about Hogsmeade but later about the 'Smoking Potion of Death' (which was what Harry called it, much to Melanie's exasperation).

"But if he, you know…" Hermione trailed off and lowered her voice. "If he was trying to poison Professor Lupin, he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry."

Melanie grinned. "At least one of you three agrees with me."

"See," whispered Melanie as they started eating the delicious food, "he's not dead." She pointed to Professor Lupin, who looked cheerful as always.

The feast was amazing as always. There were hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, which had been animated with some spell to have their faces change into different shapes every once in a while. The cloud of fluttering bats in the Great Hall flew around, easily avoiding the flaming orange streamers drifting around. The feast finished with the Hogwarts ghosts doing some 'synchronized gliding'.

When the feast was over and all of them returned to their own Houses, only Melanie was expecting what was approaching.

**{A/N Wow okay I managed to finish this chapter. Now I'm gone for three weeks. D: That means there'll be a long wait before my next update, sorry! On the bright side, I've edited my first two stories (mostly minor edits).**

**Question: How do you think people get their Animagus forms? Potion, spells, etc…}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	10. Theories and Classes

**{A/N Chapter Ten. Camp was fun, and I'm back with a chapter!**

**Anyways, thanks to Lily F. Lux (I Google'd it, and I'm pretty sure it's the same thing. Basically, it means that over the years, the story of what happened got twisted and isn't accurate anymore), Dazer95 (What part of St. Mungo's would you want to work in? I remember there were some mentioned in the fifth book. Thanks for the encouragement!), That Elusive Reader (Thanks! 3 Do you think it'd be a bunch of spells or just one that works over time?), and Daughter of the Full Moon (Why was HBP your least favourite? I'm just curious.) for reviewing! Love to all of you!**

**Still not J.K. Rowling here.}**

Hermione had just sat down on her bed when she noticed that, through the doorway, girls were starting to file down the hallway back into the Common Room. Usually, that wouldn't have been too odd a sight, but when everybody was leaving, that was when it became strange.

Once down in the Common Room, she saw that Professor Flitwick was standing there. Just a minute later, Penelope Clearwater, who had been going the way opposite of the crowd, came back, followed by another four girls.

"That's all of them, Professor."

"Thank you, Miss Clearwater." He turned to the crowd of Ravenclaws and pointed his wand at his throat to project his voice. "All of you need to go down to the Great Hall. There will be sleeping bags provided there, and everything will be explained in just a while. Now, if you will follow me. Prefects, would you all make sure that nobody falls behind?"

Slightly shocked and confused, the Ravenclaws were pretty quiet on the walk to the Great Hall, choosing to each speculate about what could have happened.

Rubbing a finger against the gem around her wrist, Hermione tried to think of something but came up with a blank. _Maybe this is a drill of some sort... Does Hogwarts need drills? I mean, with all the magic, we wouldn't exactly need fire drills unless they were fiendfyre drills._ She shivered at the thought of the brilliant castle been burned to a crisp by magical, destructive fire.

_There__are drills for what would happen if somebody broke in, but how could somebody break into a magical, enchanted castle that has defences put up by the Founders?_ The idea of somebody doing that seemed impossible, even though she'd met the Founders and saw that they were human._Then again, the enchantments might have worn off over the years..._

_So maybe somebody did get in, but who and how?_

As soon as they arrived in the Great Hall, Hermione looked and spotted two red haired people standing next to each other. She headed over to where Ron and Melanie were standing, and they were joined shortly by Harry.

"What happened?" she demanded to all three of them, receiving a shrug from Harry, an conflicted look from Melanie, and an opened mouth from Ron. Before he could explain, however, Dumbledore did.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the Hall, and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts."

_Well, that explained absolutely nothing. But I guess that something did happen in the castle; maybe it was because somebody broke in._

Ron opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted again.

"Oh, yes, you'll be needing..." A wave of his wand made the tables move to the walls of the Hall, and another made some plush-looking sleeping bags appear. "Sleep well." As soon as he was out of the door, the chatter in the Hall increased tenfold.

The four of them each grabbed a sleeping bag and wandered over to a corner. Hermione turned to Ron, raising her voice to be heard over the noise. "So, what did happen?"

"Like I haven't been trying to explain." He rolled his eyes. "The Fat Lady's portrait had been all ripped to pieces, and she was gone. Peeves loves chaos, of course, so he decided to drag it on and explain that Sirius Black had been in the castle and had done that to the Fat Lady. I think the teachers decided to keep us all here so that they could check that none of us had been dragged out of here or something like that."

Distantly, they heard Percy yelling something about how they should be asleep soon, but they paid him no attention. Mainly, Hermione's mind was focused on trying to figure out how the escaped Azakaban prisoner could have infiltrated Hogwarts.

All around them, people were wondering the thing same. After hearing the fourth person speculate about how he could've Apparated (_Have NOBODY read Hogwarts, a History?)_, Hermione cleared her throat and spoke up.

"To everybody who thinks that somebody Apparated into the castle, let me remind you all that you can't do that." She got a few glares from the people who heard her, but she shrugged and decided that she was just saving them time.

"Anyways... Do you think Black's still in the castle?"

Ron shrugged. "Dumbledore obviously thinks he still is, but if I was him, I would've just ran the second the Fat Lady escaped from her portrait."

"It's very... lucky that he picked tonight, isn't it?" Hermione bit her cheek. "The one night that we were all out of the tower..."

"Maybe he's lost track of time, being on the run."

Harry shook his head. "It seems too convenient. Besides, there are more things I'm worried about." When all three of them shuffled in their sleeping bags to look at him, Harry grinned. "Do you think they'll let me into Hogsmeade now?"

With a sigh, Melanie asked the question the other three were thinking. "Why would they let you into Hogsmeade now?"

"Well, if Black was trying to get into the Gryffindor Common Room, he isn't looking for me, is he?"

_Well, that makes sense... I suppose._"Harry, I still don't think that they'll let you out. Besides, the professors might say that Black might think that you were in Gryffindor, mainly because both of your parents were, right?"

He deflated visibly. "Right... I guess I won't ever see Hogsmeade then."

Wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling his head down, Melanie grinned. "But at least we'll be stuck together, right? I'm sure the problem will be resolved soon enough."

Ron stared at her. "Will it?"

"...How would I know," she said, though the words sounded half like a question.

_This is way too many times to be a coincidence,_Hermione thought, joining Ron at staring at their Hufflepuff friend, who pulled the sleeping bag over herself.

"Good night, all of you."

As if they'd planned it, Percy also started yelling about how they should all be asleep now and why weren't they asleep already and didn't they know that he was a Prefect and could get them in trouble if they didn't listen to his instructions?

Recalling that every time they started questioning Melanie about her knowing the future, Hermione realized that it had been interrupted or avoided.

_This must be a conspiracy._

~.~.~.~.~

"For the last time," muttered Hermione, "Sirius Black did not transform himself into a shrub and get into Hogwarts."

"Maybe he did fly in the window," pondered Ron, with a contemplative expression on his face. As Hermione was about to turn and snap at him as well, she noticed the small grin on his face.

"Ha ha, very funny. Besides, I'm pretty sure somebody on the Quidditch team already thought at that." Her head was practically aching with all the rumours floating around it. Honestly, did nobody know anything about Hogwarts' defence system?

Apparently, the logic of the professors at Hogwarts didn't get any better either. They'd decided to place Sir Cadogan as the guard, and she had seen first-hand just how crazy her was. How good a guard he would be depended on whether or not Sirius Black knew how to deal with the rather eccentric painting. _Then again, they may have only used him because they had no other choice._

Harry sat down next to them at the Ravenclaw table with a loud thump. His robes billowed outwards and flicked small droplets of water and mud at the nearby people.

Melanie scooted away from her brother. "Quidditch, Har?"

"Yep."

"Did you really have to get so dirty?"

"Yep." He rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you'd think that Flint was trying to win a world cup instead of a Hogwarts game."

Hermione grimaced as she pushed her plate aside. Pancakes decorated with mud and syrup didn't seem so appetizing. "Just out of curiosity, who are you playing against anyways?"

"Gryffindor," answered Ron. "Usually, the first game is Slytherin versus Gryffindor. I think that's 'cause the first game is usually the one with the least fouls."

_I really should stop riling him up like this… _"What does that matter anyways?" _Nah._

"What does it matter?" His voice was slightly too loud and most of the people around them turned to stare at him. Ron put a hand on his chest and started talking, though she didn't really listen to his Quidditch ramble.

She did, however, turn back when she noticed that Melanie and Harry were failing at holding back snickers. Raising an eyebrow, Hermione realized that Ron had been talking about…

"Gnomes? Really, Ronald? Gnomes?"

He laughed. "I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure out that I'd changed the subject."

"I think that was about a minute," added Harry.

Melanie stood up abruptly and pulled Hermione up by her elbow. "Anyways, we should probably get to our next class. Plus, I should make sure that she doesn't start zoning out again."

Together, they made their way to Care of Magical Creatures. Because of the Hippogriff incident, Hagrid had lost his nerves with big creatures.

For a couple of lessons, they had been studying Flobberworms, but at the insistence of five of them (even Draco, who admitted that Flobberworms were even worse than getting injured), they had taken a step up. Their next few lessons were supposed to cover salamanders. Melanie, to none of the other three's surprise, loved them.

"You know," whispered Hermione as she shifted forwards to block her friend from view, "reaching into the fire isn't exactly a good way to stay inconspicuous."

"But they're so cute!"

She sighed. "Even if they're cute, somebody's going to notice you holding a handful of flames."

_And if that happens, somebody's going to wonder why I'm not freaking out and casting all the water spells I know at her. _Hermione could practically imagine it, though she was sure that casting water spells at the salamanders would not be good for them.

~.~.~.~.~

"We're going to be late to Defence!" fretted Hermione, pulling Melanie down the corridor by her sleeve.

"Calm down, would you? We still have five minutes."

"And it'll take us at least six to get through this crowd!"

Despite Hermione's predictions, they arrived at the classroom with two minutes to spare. Although it was surprising, at least for her, to see that Professor Snape was taking over for Professor Lupin, they quickly grabbed seats around the middle area of the class. It far enough so that Melanie could distract herself with something and not pay attention, but close enough that Hermione would be able to pay attention and not be distracted.

Once all the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were inside the classroom, the class started like most Potions classes did. When somebody dared to ask where Professor Lupin was, all they got for a response was that he was sick and that they should stop questioning him about inane things that don't relate to the class he was teaching.

"At least for this class, I expect you to pay attention." The professor turned around, sweeping everybody under his dark glare. "As Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics covered so far, we shall be discussing werewolves today."

Hermione had been about to interrupt (_I'm pretty sure that Professor Lupin has notes somewhere, and one of us would probably know anyhow_), but Melanie had thrown a piece of crumpled up paper at her. The crumpled Muggle paper, which seemed like notebook paper, had a crude sketch of a finger in front of a mouth.

Frowning at Melanie, Hermione mimed zipping her lips and kept her hands firmly down on the desk. She was surprised to see such an angry look on the red head's face, but at least it seemed to be directed at the professor.

"Turn to page 394." In unison, the class opened their books to the back except for Hermione and Melanie. "Can anybody tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?"

Eyes skimmed the pages, looking for the information. Hands hesitantly started rising around the classroom, most of which were Ravenclaws, who had all mastered the technique of scanning for information.

Hermione scowled. _And, of course, he picks nobody with their hands up. _Instead, he chose to pick on Ernie, who's sitting right behind her. Discreetly, she manages to reach back and point to where she remembers the lines in the book are for the answers.

She mentally recites the answers as Ernie does so aloud. _The pupils of their eyes, the snout shapes, and the tufted tail._

Although it seemed to be the longest defence class they'd had that year, it did eventually end. Complaints immediately started when they were told to hand in two rolls of parchment about how to recognize and kill werewolves.

Hermione tried to stay positive. "Well that was an interesting lesson, at least." _But that one class might have ruined defence for many of us._

"Better than the pixies, at least."

As they walked towards their next class, Hermione lagged back in the crowd travelling through the corridors. She ducked behind a suit of armour and reached for the Time Turner around her neck. By now, she'd done it enough to be able to make accurate guesses about the number of turns with no problem.

_Going back in time is simply exhausting._ Even if learning so much was amazing, Hermione was starting to regret her choice in using a Time Turner.

At least her next class was Arithmancy, something that was sure to cheer her up.

**{A/N End of (the short) chapter! Sorry for such a long wait, but camp. Reviews make me smile! *not so subtle hint* I feel like my chapters are getting boring, and I'm sorry if any of you are getting bored. Things will start happening eventually, promise (I say this every time .).**

**Also, I wanted to ask if those who favourited or followed get emails every time I edit a chapter. I do tend to edit a lot and if you do get emails every time… Whoops?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	11. A Disastrous Game

**{A/N Chapter Eleven. I'm going to try and update as much as I can during this summer. Once fall comes and I have to go back to school, I know I definitely won't have as much time as I used to for this.**

**Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks! It's a relief to know that at least some people are reading and enjoying, and a huge relief to know that you don't get spammed with emails whenever I edit.) and Lily F. Lux (Yes, that's what I do. Good to know you don't get spammed either. XD). The reason I asked about the emails was because one of my friends told me how that was, and I worried about the possible spam.**

**Me? Of course I'm J.K. Rowling! (and it's probably about time for me to turn my sarcasm off). Just to be clear, no, I'm not J.K. Rowling and I don't think I ever will turn into another person.}**

Ron sighed. _We're definitely going to lose again. _At this point, he was used to the Gryffindor team losing to Slytherin.

Not to say that it wasn't annoying, though.

Without the Seekers, the other team members were evenly matched. But adding the new broomsticks and the fact that the Slytherin Seekers were pretty much the bests fliers of the year…

Harry was playing Seeker for that match, which Draco had whined about teasingly. At breakfast, however, when it was clear that the storm was only growing worse, the blond had just laughed and wished Harry good luck.

Hermione, on the other hand, had been sympathetic and she proceeded to cast a spell which helped repel the water away from Harry's glasses.

The stormy skies were sure to make the game ten times as hard, which would only increase the rivalry between the two Houses. While Ron was sure that most of the students were looking forward to this match for that particular reason, he couldn't help but notice how both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Heads of houses were casting Snape and McGonagall wary glances.

Despite the weather, most of the school had turned up and were sitting under colourful umbrellas or raincoats in the stands. As Hogwarts didn't issue umbrellas, the stands were decorated with all sorts of patterns instead of the four House colours.

It was strange to see some of the more stoic students and staff with polka dots or neon colours.

The two teams on the Quidditch pitch were visibly shaking, despite how far away they were. Ron was surprised that none of the older teammates had thought of casting heating charms, but he was glad that Melanie was sandwiched between him and Hermione for the warmth that she provided. That, and along with him keeping the water away from their faces with his water powers, they were probably the most comfortable ones there.

Draco was also sitting with them, though more on the edge of their 'power shield' so as to not raise suspicion with him.

"Do you think the game's started yet?"

Ron sighed loudly, making sure that he'd be heard over the wind. "Do they look like they're on their brooms, Melanie?"

"They've spent a long time talking," fretted Hermione. "Maybe they've decided to cancel the match. After all, this weather is dreadful."

"They can't cancel the match now. They'd have an angry mob on their hands." Seeing Hermione's dubious look, Ron gestured at the gray sky and then at the people anxiously waiting for the game to start.

Ron thought for a moment. _There wouldn't actually be an angry mob, would there? _He wasn't sure whether to be thankful that he wasn't the only one obsessed with Quidditch or scared that he, already having thoughts consumed by the sport, wasn't the most obsessed one.

"There definitely would be an angry mob," agreed Draco, taking his eyes off the pitch for the first time.

It was odd how well the two of them got along, considering that they'd practically been at each other's throats the years before. But when the issue with Muggleborns vs Mudbloods wasn't brought up, the two were surprisingly similar, especially in their liking of pestering Harry.

At last, the two teams were ready to start. They mounted their brooms and took off once the whistle was blown.

The red and green robed students wavered in midair, getting battered around by the wind. Some of them nearly crashed into one another, and Ron was pretty sure that he spotted the green spot that was Harry getting blown into another green person.

"This is not safe at all."

Draco scoffed. "Since when is Quidditch safe, Granger?"

She responded with a glare. "The weather conditions are adding to the danger! They can hardly see the other players heading for them in this weather, let alone bludgers. How are they supposed to catch the Snitch?"

Ron wondered what type of weather conditions would warrant the cancellation of a game. He did, after all, recall either Charlie telling him of a game that was played in a tornado. It seemed that the wind had only added to the excitement of the game.

Ignoring the bickering Draco and Hermione, Ron kept his eyes on the game.

The players had finally regained their balance and were flying straight. The Quaffle and Bludgers, on the other hand, were getting tossed around in the wind. Half the time, the game wasn't even visible, obscured by the wall of rain.

However, Ron could tell where Harry was. With some amount of concentration, he could feel the rain falling and, consequently, the odd breeze or two that was blowing the rain away from something.

_Seems like Harry is the only one that can actually see what's happening._

The commentator for the game was barely audible over the noise, but from what Ron did hear, it seemed that both teams were tied.

_What's happening? _The figures on brooms were all lowering down to the ground.

"Seems like they've called for a time out," yelled Draco, answering Ron's mental question.

The two large umbrellas where the two teams were grouped under were red and green. The chattering of the spectators grew, mostly speculations about which team would win, but it ended when both teams took to the air once more.

Beside him, Ron felt Melanie suddenly stiffen. He, along with Hermione and Draco, followed her gaze to the other side of the stands, where lightning illuminated a shape.

Ron felt fear course through him at the sight of the silhouette. It looked like an enormous dog, standing motionless and watching the game.

_The Grim? _Suddenly, Divination didn't seem so fake anymore.

The lightning disappeared as quickly as it came, taking with it the frightening image of the large dog. Ron's attention turned back to the game, where the Snitch had finally been spotted.

Although the Gryffindor Seeker was much closer to the small, golden ball, and Harry appeared to have spotted the Grim as well. Despite the distance and distraction, he took off and was starting to cover the distance.

_It's going to be close. Maybe… _

But before Ron could finish his thought, it felt like the atmosphere had dropped into the negative degrees. Everything went eerily silent, and he felt oddly alone.

_I recognize what this is… And that's not a good thing._ Looking down at the Quidditch pitch, he spotted over a hundred dementors, all 'looking' up at the Quidditch player.

One Quidditch player in particular.

"Oh, this is not good," Hermione muttered, breaking the silence for a moment.

Nobody else spoke, and Ron had nothing to help distract him from the Dementors. The cold washed over him, causing a shudder.

_Dementors are plain foul, _thought Ron as he relived memories.

First came the memories of spiders. Seeing his teddy bear turn into one, spiders crawling all over Hogwarts, but most of all, the acromantula.

But interjected between those terrifying memories were parts of his parents speech.

"Bill's Head Boy! I'm so proud!" "Charlie's been made Captain of the Quidditch team! Isn't that so amazing?" "Percy, our little prefect!"

Suddenly, Ron noticed that everything seemed to be oddly bright.

_Weren't we in the middle of a storm or something? Shouldn't it be really gray and gloomy?_

Trying his best to push aside the memories, he recognized what the brightness was. Orange and yellow brightened up the area around.

_Fire._

The flames roared higher and burned brighter, blinding him for a moment. When he could see again, Ron saw a shaking Melanie beside him and a falling Harry at the Quidditch pitch.

_Wait, a falling Harry? _

Well, not exactly falling. He seemed to be floating in midair, looking as though a miniature tornado was holding him up. His broomstick, enchanted though it was, got caught up in the wind and was swept away towards the Whomping Willow.

_That's not going to end well. _Sure enough, he could just spot the flailing branches of the tree coming to life.

The fire around him forced Ron to look away, which was just as Harry started to fall again.

He was starting to feel pain as the flames touched his arms and legs, and it seemed that both Hermione and Draco were caught inside the ring of fire as well.

Ignoring the pain, Ron pulled up the water from a nearby puddle, which was starting to bubble. With only a slight bit of amusement, he made a ball of water and dropped it over Melanie's face, effectively bringing her back to full consciousness.

"What?" She sat up and saw the flames all around her, which immediately went down to candlefire instead of bonfire levels. "Whoops."

Hermione shivered and curled inwards while Draco just stared at the fire.

In just seconds, the cold had disappeared. Down at the ground, Dumbledore stood with his wand out, which had cast a spell of silvery stuff at the Dementors. All the Quidditch players had dismounted from their brooms and were all crowding around Harry, floating just inches above the ground.

_Looks like he's alright._

The Quidditch game was over, and people in the stands were starting to recover from the Dementors. The post-game chatter was mostly murmurs and stares at both the pitch and Harry, who was being floated away on a stretcher.

"Let's get to the Hospitcal Wing now, before it's all crowded with the Slytherins," Hermione suggested. They all stood up, glad to have something to do.

Having arrived before Harry, the four of them crowded just outside the entrance of the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey popped her head out of the door. "What are you lot doing here?"

Luckily, Harry arrived at that moment, followed by the Slytherin Quidditch team, the Beaters on the Gryffindor team, professors, and an irate Dumbledore. Harry was immediately ushered into the Hospital Wing, but the students were told to wait outside.

"It would be best," hinted Madam Pomfrey not so subtly, "if you all were to return tomorrow."

_Yeah, right, _scoffed Ron mentally. Out loud, he said nothing, but directed a glance at Draco, who had better diplomacy skills.

Sure enough, the blond took the role of negotiator. "We're worried about Harry, and if we were allowed into the Hospital Wing, we could surely help cheer him up once he wakes up. After all, there were Dementors at the Quidditch game…"

Surprisingly, it worked and they all filed in to group around his bed, although the muddy Quidditch players had to wipe off their robes first.

It was clear that everybody was lost in their own thoughts, partially because of the game but mostly because of the Dementors. Ron himself was slightly disgusted.

_What kind of brother am I, hearing those memories from the Dementors? _Honestly, Dementors made him relive memories of his siblings' success?

He was left to brood about his jealousy while the others were each consumed by their own thoughts.

Some time later, Professor Flitwick came with, with a bag full of the pieces of Harry's broom. That seemed to be their cue to start talking, and the slightly awkward conversation started.

"It's lucky that his landing was softened," said one of the Slytherin Chasers.

Another Chaser shuddered. "I thought he was dead for sure."

Melanie grinned and teased, "And he didn't even break those glasses. Hermione, did he get you to charm them to be unbreakable or something?"

"I didn't," croaked Harry, who opened his eyes blearily. He looked confused for a moment until he remembered. "Well… that was a cold Quidditch match…"

Throwing her hands in the air, Hermione sighed. "After falling fifty feet from the air, the first thing this boy says is about the temperature. And I can just guess that his second question is going to be…"

"What about the match?"

"…and I was proven correct."

Flint took a half step forwards, making sure that Harry could see as he shrugged. "The Gryffindor caught the Snitch, but don't worry about it. After all, with the Seeker that they have, it's pretty obvious that they'll lose their next match."

Eyes turned to Ron, who was about to protest when he deflated. "It's true; we need a new Seeker."

Harry sighed and buried his face in his hands. Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance, recognizing it as a sign of their friend wanting to be left alone to brood.

Too bad.

They all spent the next ten minutes cheering up their friend, who was looking so disappointed that Flint threatened to cast a Cheering charm on him.

And it nearly worked until the dreaded question came.

"So where's my broom?"

Lucky for the Slytherin Quidditch team that they were saved from having to explain by Madam Pomfrey, who kicked them out. Harry's questioning glance kept Ron, Hermione, Melanie, and Draco there though, where they were told they had two minutes.

"Did somebody get my Nimbus?"

_In pieces, yes. _Ron's foot inched towards the bag containing the pieces of broom. _He probably doesn't want that answer though._

"Well," started Hermione, "when you fell off…"

"Remember that we were in the middle of a storm," Draco reminded Harry, whose eyes widened.

The dark haired boy sighed. "Was nobody able to find my broom?"

"Well, they found it…"

Melanie decided to take over there. "Long story short, your broomstick hit…" She faltered for a second as Harry winced. "It hit the Whomping Willow."

"And you know that the Whomping Willow doesn't like being hit." Ron's weak grin faded at seeing Harry's look.

Hermione pulled up the bag from the floor and opened it, spilling the pieces of wood and twigs onto the bed. "Professor Flitwick brought it here just a little bit ago."

Draco cleared his throat. "Look on the bright side… You could use those splinters to make miniature wands?" Harry's expression was only half amused, but it was better than before.

~.~.~.~.~

And somewhere in Diagon Alley, a half-Kneazle cat prowled, ready to deliver the order given to it by the big, black dog.

The only comment made on the cat's absence was by a red headed boy, who wondered if the darned cat had finally given up on hunting down Scabbers.

**{A/N Fin! Did I really just make the whole chapter about this one Quidditch game…**

**On the bright side, I found an actual calendar for the years (** /timelines/calendars/calendar_ ) **and, while I probably won't be following the one for third year, I'll probably use that from now on.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	12. Of Course

**{A/N Chapter Twelve. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks once more! The whole House switch thing will be explained later on, and I would explain it now except it would spoil everything XD. Sorry, you'll just have to wait!) for reviewing! Also, I'm not J.K. Rowling, got it?}**

"Can't I just go back to the Slytherin dorms?" whined Harry, for what was the thirtieth time. He'd been counting and cataloguing all the reactions of Madam Pomfrey.

This time, she was amused. "It's better for you to stay here for the weekend. Don't look like that; it's just the weekend, after all."

But when she returned to her office, Harry's teasing smile dropped.

Draco had offered to buy him another broomstick, the one that the rest of their team had, but Harry had refused. After all, it wasn't the fact that he didn't have a broomstick; it was that he didn't have _that _broomstick. Besides, Draco's father had already spent so much, buying them for the rest of the team.

Reaching a hand under his pillow, he heaved a heavy sigh as his fingers brushed the splintered wood of his Nimbus.

He knew that it was stupid, having grown so sentimentally attached to an object, but all he could register was sadness. It felt like something had died, and that wasn't surprising, considering that the broomstick was one of the few material objects he had to be able to get attached to.

All in all, it wasn't very surprising that he mourned the loss of his Nimbus.

His little section of the hospital was hardly ever empty, the only exceptions being at meals and at night. Visitors were constantly by his hospital bed. Though it was mostly his closer friends, there were others who dropped off presents.

Hagrid sent flowers that looked like cabbages, which Harry at first had feared were harmful.

Ginny, surprisingly, showed up with a homemade card that sang, albeit badly. That was shoved under a post of his bed to shut it up.

Some Slytherins also showed up, including the Quidditch team, to drop off candy, which horrified Madam Pomfrey ("So much candy isn't beneficial for your health!").

His most frequent visitors were Ron, Hermione, Melanie, and Draco, who had taken to using his bed as a table to finish their work ("Yeah, thanks for your concern guys. Using my hospital bed as a table…" "You're welcome, Harry!" "…Ron, since when did you and Draco start talking in synch?").

As expected, Hermione had convinced Draco to go into Harry's dorm and collect his bag full of work, saying that although he was injured, that was no excuse for him to slack off.

_As if being injured isn't bad enough, _he mentally complained to himself, taking a brief break to relax his hand. _But of course being friends with Hermione means that she'll make you do all your work, even after falling fifty feet._

"So," said Ron, not looking up from his essay, "did you see that shadow at the Quidditch game?"

Harry shivered in fright and was surprised to see that the other three nodded as well.

"What was that thing?" questioned Hermione.

Draco and Ron both stared at her. "Granger, you're supposed to be smarter than that."/"It was the Grim!" they both said.

_Thanks for the comfort, you two…_

She scoffed. "Grim, swim, rim, whatever. Divination is just a load of make belief, vague predictions that can be taken any which way. I doubt that it was an actual Grim. Besides, it's more likely that it was a werewolf than a Grim."

Melanie snickered for some reason but nodded. "Yeah, I'm with Hermione on this."

"That's because neither of you grew up in a proper, wizarding environment," said Draco, with a hint of his old arrogance. "If you had, then you'd both be able to understand the seriousness of this situation."

Ron winced and spoke to his paper. "As much as I hate to agree with this pretentious prick, I do."

"Rude."

"Arrogant."

"Hypocrite."

"Bast-"

"Anyways…" interrupted Harry, glad for the change of subject off his potential death omen, "how long is this essay supposed to be?"

~.~.~.~.~

And those are five ways to identify werewolves, along with ways to kill them (although I don't know why we would need to know this; after all, we are a class full of thirteen year olds, are we not?)

Melanie accentuated the last question mark with a very inky dot. She knew that Snape wasn't going to be teaching the next defence class, but it still had been fun to write the essay as if she was actually addressing it to him.

"There, I'm done."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione pulled on Melanie sleeve, nearly causing her to drop her quill. "Finally. Now we have to get to class, so hurry up!"

The two of them ran towards the classroom, making it in right before Lupin did.

"Sorry about that, professor," panted Hermione.

Melanie, on the other hand, smirked. "Made it in before you, Rem- Professor Lupin." She mentally cursed. Her godfather had invited her to have tea with him a couple of times (meaning that he had tea and she had juice) and they'd finally broken her habit of her calling him 'Professor Lupin'.

_I told him I should just stick with calling him Professor Lupin so I wouldn't accidentally call him Remus in class…_

His lips twitched upwards, obviously catching her small name slip-up, and she realized that he probably did that on purpose. He had been a marauder, after all. "Ah, yes, it seems as if you did." He was unable to say more as the class all decided to flock him at once.

"Professor Lupin, did you hear-"

"Two rolls of parchment on-"

"Was Professor Snape supposed to cover-"

"Did we actually have to do it?"

"We told him we hadn't covered werewolves yet, but-"

The babbling students quieted as Professor Lupin held out his hands.

"The other class has already informed me of this problem, and I've explained to them that they did not have to do the work." Most of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs visibly deflated, having already done it.

Noticing this, Professor Lupin continued, "But if you have completed the essay, you may place it on my desk and I'll mark it as extra credit."

The rolls of parchment piled up onto the professor's desk, creating an odd pyramid of sorts. Only Melanie noticed their professor's wince upon seeing all those scrolls. She could only hope that the essays were filled with real information rather than their personal opinions of persecuting werewolves.

Class that day was… not fun for Melanie.

As if the thought of drowning wasn't bag enough. They'd covered so many creatures that could drown, harm, and potentially kill them in water areas. The Dementors just a few days ago was bad enough to make her have nightmares of drowning.

She shuddered at the thought of that disastrous Quidditch game.

It was funny how Ron seemed to be part Seer. A few days prior to the match, he'd predicted a 'shadowy figure, followed by an early winter.'

They'd all dismissed it as pure rubbish, but Melanie had laughed and known that what he said was going to happen.

Even though she'd been expecting both the 'Grim' and the Dementors, having them actually happen was something completely different. Sirius bad been spooky, creepy at most, but the horrible, sick creatures that were Dementors had completely terrified her.

_I'm not sure if not having memories near Dementors is a good thing or a bad thing. _

Sure, it might be odd, but no fearful memories, right? Then again, she just felt like she was drowning in an arctic ocean…

When Melanie had felt the coldness of the Dementors, she'd desperately tried to warm herself up as well as brighten the area. And what better way could she have done it except to set the entire area around them on fire?

It had worked, to a certain point. The feeling of drowning had eased, but she had unfortunately passed out and left the flames to consume everything. Lucky that Ron was there to dose her with some cold water or there may have been more evidence of the fire than the few burns left on the floor.

_And I'd wanted to burn everything. _She remembered the feeling of the fire, which wanted to consume everything around it.

The rain had only added to that feeling, fuelling the fire's heat until it turned all water into vapour upon contact. The people around stopped mattering, as well as the property damage that was sure to have happened if she actually burned down everything.

It was frightening, to say the least.

~.~.~.~.~

Wednesday had come, a day of the week that she'd been dreading ever since the Quidditch match. Wednesday, although a day she usually looked forward to, meant the extra Potions lesson.

And Potions meant fire, fire that she would have to control or risk blowing everything up.

_But really, _she thought, staring at the small flames she was too scared to make any larger, _I'm risking blowing everything up anyways._

She heard Steven's voice in her head, reassuring her that no, she wasn't going to burn everything, but it was hard to agree with him as she felt the urge to burn him. Even though he was a voice in her head, she felt like burning him.

It was all the fire's fault, she decided. The fires always wanted to burn down everything and now she was practically turning into a flame.

Then again, she couldn't really blame the orange chemical reaction for being what it was.

"Is the fire malfunctioning?" came the half-sarcastic, half-curious question.

"Don't scare me like that!" When her most sarcastic teacher raised an eyebrow, Melanie remembered that he was that; a teacher. "Um… Please don't scare me like that?"

"Better." Professor Snape bent down, looking at the pitiful fire under the cauldron. "The fire?"

"Um… Give me a second." She pulled out her wand and pretended that it did something to the fire. Bracing herself, Melanie gently prodded the fire with her mind, causing it to grow in size. Immediately, she could 'hear' the thoughts of the fire, wanting her to burn down everything.

_It's surprising that I've never noticed this before._

She sustained the fire for a few more moments before it spit sparks around, scaring her and making her stop it. Looking up, she saw Professor Snape's curious glance.

"I can't keep the fire working today," she half-explained, too scared to try.

Frustrated tears starting to spring to her eyes, to her horror. She turned her face to the side to avoid any more awkwardness and mumbled an apology.

"Well," said Professor Snape, sounding only slightly awkward, "if you can't brew today, you might as well make yourself useful and help prepare ingredients for the next group of dunderheads I have to teach."

As the two sat in silence, preparing ingredients that the professor deemed too difficult or detailed for him to trust to the other students, Melanie couldn't help but compare this Snape to the one she knew from her memories and from her classes.

There was indeed something she didn't know, and she was sure going to figure it out.

~.~.~.~.~

Hogwarts seemed to really, really like getting her lost. At this point, Melanie had no doubts that the castle was at least partially sentient.

Otherwise, how could it _constantly _have new corridors appear out of nowhere to lead her into different sections of Hogwarts every day.

Every.

Single.

Day.

(Or at least every other day).

She sighed and looked around. "Where am I now?" The hallway she was in seemed to be lower down, or at least that's what she guessed from the darkness.

The torches hanging off the walls cast flickering shadows everywhere, which made her feel uneasy.

"Oh, great," she yelled sarcastically. "Brilliant… The torches just went out. How does that just so happen to happen when I'm standing here?"

Everything in the castle was against her, even the torches.

If she wasn't able to make a small fire for Potions without wanting to burn down the entire class, Melanie wasn't sure how well that would work with a torch. Too bad she hadn't thought ahead to keep an electric torch or two with her.

She waited for the torch to, maybe, magically relight itself (they were in a magical castle after all). When nothing happened, she sighed resignedly.

_Of course._

Using her fire powers was so simple by now that it took hardly any effort for her to find the just extinguished torches.

It was with a simple thought that she managed to, however reluctantly, light one of the torches.

The light from the small flame showed that she wasn't the only one in the corridor.

"What the hell?" She recognized the small creature from her memories, but had no explanation for why it would be there.

The house elf stared up at her with wide eyes. "You is here."

"Um… Yeah, am I not supposed to be? Were you guys cleaning this corridor?" When the house elf didn't respond, Melanie grabbed on the chance to leave. "I guess that's it. Sorry, I'll leave then."

She pressed herself against the wall and tried to slink away, feeling slightly creeped out by the house elf.

"You is here."

"Yes, yes I am." Melanie gave up trying to walk away. "But why is me being here so important, and who are you?"

The house elf mumbled for a moment, something about choosing well, before giving his (Melanie just got the impression that the house elf was a 'he') name. "Jally, miss."

"Right, um, Jally. I should probably get back to my Common Room and-"

Jally shook his head vigorously. "But you is needing to come to the kitchens!" He held out something in front of him as if it was proof. That something was an odd, palm-sized gem, which was glowing a warm orange. His eyes were fixed on the bracelet on her wrist.

"I'm not exactly hungry at the moment."

He smiled, think she was making a joke, before reaching forward and grabbing her wrist. The torch extinguished itself as the two disappeared with a _crack._

First, not being able to do Potions properly because of her stupid problem with the fire. Second, getting taken away (witchnapped?) by a house elf for some odd reason.

It was just another day at Hogwarts.

Seeing all the house elves staring at her, Melanie gave a nervous grin back, hoping that they were just overly friendly. Their eyes swivelled between Jally, her, and her bracelet, which was emitting a faint, orange light.

_This is starting to get really creepy…_

_Crack. _Beside her appeared a very confused Harry with a house elf that seemed to be in the Harry Potter fan club. _It's Dobby. I'm certain of that._

_Crack, crack. _An intrigued Hermione appeared, followed by a slightly irritated Ron. The two house elves accompanying them leaned away from the two of them, one startled by the relentless stream of questions and the other scared by the annoyed look on Ron's face.

"Mel?"

Hermione looked around, noticing the other three. "Why are we all here?" Faintly, Melanie heard her mumble something about not having ever read that house elves had done anything like this before.

_Oh I hope this doesn't mean she's starting S.P.E.W. early this time around._

"What the bloody hell are we doing here?" snapped Ron, glaring at the house elves. His hair was matted oddly, making it obvious that he'd fallen asleep.

"We is waiting for something," squeaked Jally. "We is sorry, master Weasley."

He sighed dramatically before adopting a curious expression. Ron pressed two fingers on the gem on his wrist and sighed again, this time much more annoyed.

"Well, that might have been nice to know before you sent the bloody house elves."

**{A/N End of chapter. (I'm so good at cliffhangers. XD No, not really.) And if any of you have suggestions for house elf names, that'd be appreciated. I'm not the best with names, as if evident by me calling the house elf 'Jally'.}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	13. A Book

**{A/N Chapter Thirteen. Thanks to Dazer95 (Thanks again! I feel like I'm just repeating myself, but your encouragement is absolutely awesome!) for reviewing. Also, I'm not J.K. Rowling.}**

"Uh, Ron," said Melanie, "who are you talking to?"

He shushed her, concentrating on listening to Helga speak again.

**I did not send the house elves after you, **Helga protested. When Ron raised an eyebrow, which she sensed, Helga relented.

**Perhaps I did, but that was years ago. However, they were told to go and educate the next set of Natural magic users, not to kidnap them in their sleep. **That last part was added with a laugh. **That part was not my fault.**

Ron scowled. And he had been having a good nap when that bloody house elf had Apparated (apparently) right next to him, grabbed his arm, and Apparated both of them into the kitchen. Luckily, the house elf had explained something, vague as it was, before Ron felt the need to curse the elf for disturbing his nap.

The other three were looking confused, even Melanie for once. _Why aren't the other Founders explaining this to the other three? _

**Because they don't know this house elf 'situation' as well as I do. Adding on to that the fact that it does drained upon our limited amounts of energy to communicate with your four, none of the other three needed to do that.**

_…So how are the other three supposed to know this later?_

**It's left to me to explain everything to you, and then you to explain everything to everybody else.**

Ron groaned, but it wasn't as thought he hadn't expected that. _I hate explaining things._

He realized that he was getting some weird looks from his friends and wondered how odd this mental conversation was from their point of view.

Listening to Helga's explanation, he couldn't help but admire how well the Founders had planned everything out (even if there were a still some complications). It had been so long, and the house elves were still able to do what they'd been told. The information had been undoubtedly passed down from generation to generation of house elves.

When she finished explaining, Ron looked around for a moment, thinking about how to phrase what he was going to say.

They were in the kitchen and it seemed that most of the work was done for the day. House elves were mainly rushing around to tidy up, and a few were looking at what seemed to be a recipe that Ron assumed was for tomorrow.

"Apparently," he emphasized, hearing a chuckle in his mind before the presence of the Founder faded, "according to Helga…"

There he stopped, feeling overwhelmed. He was calling the Founder by their first names.

He'd tried to emphasize how awe-inspiring that should be to his friends, but they didn't understand it as much as he did. After all, he had grown up hearing about Hogwarts and those who made it. It would be the equivalent of them meeting somebody from their 'fairy tales' (maybe a Prince Dashing or something, if he remembered it correctly?).

Bringing him out of his thoughts was Hermione's impatience. "Come on, Ron; there's no use for suspense."

"Just thinking." He took a deep breath, wanting to get the explanation over with. "Basically, what Helga explained was that the house elves know what these bracelets mean better than even the Founders do because they have a book, which the Helga in the bracelet had planned to leave for the elves later on and she told me to tell you that all of us should go read this book because the Founders are starting to run out of energy and-"

"Breathe Ron!" Harry reminded him. When he did so, his Slytherin friend smirked in a Draco-esque fashion. "You sound like Hermione."

Melanie snickered. "I'd love to see the two of them debating."

_Does arguing count? _"Well, anyways…" Ron paused to take a deep breath and to savour the look on Hermione's face. "That's it."

"It that really it?" questioned Hermione, eyes that were hungry for knowledge narrowing in suspicion.

Ron rolled his eyes in response. "I'm not so stupid as to want death by Hermione for withholding information." He got the desired reaction of a slightly aggravated _huff_.

"Where is it?" They all turned to face Melanie, who elaborated. "The book."

"Where is it, Dobby?"

The house elf fidgeted and wringed his hands. "Master Potter, sir, we is not knowing that."

"How can you not know?" demanded Hermione.

"Frella is sorry, mistress of earth," apologized the house elf who had escorted (witchnapped) Hermione. "Years ago, many years, there was bad people who was wanting to take the book from mistresses Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and masters Gryffindor and Slytherin. They has hidden it, but not told later house elfs where."

Toggy, who had wizardnapped Ron, spoke up. "It is been told when Natural magicspeople come again, they use their magic to find the book again."

Out of the corner of his eye, Ron saw both girls exchange a look at the word 'Natural'. He filed away the memory for later, hoping he would be able to confront them about it, Hermione's mysterious disappearances, and Melanie's omniscience.

Unless it was a huge coincidence (and Hermione was practising what Muggles though magic was all about; disappearing), Ron felt justified for being slightly suspicious.

"So, let's see if I understand." Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose with a hand. "All we have to do is find a book in Hogwarts with magic that we barely know how to use and won't know how to use properly until we find that book, all because the Founders hid it the book, but in a later time from their memory selves that we know and can actually talk to?"

When he looked around and saw the other three nodding, Harry sighed. "This is going to be first and second year all over again."

"Why is it that we always have to find something or find out about something?"

Melanie grinned. "Don't pretend you don't love the puzzle, Hermione."

_Now we have another thing to add to our schedule…_

~.~.~.~.~

Their busy lives got even busier with this new search.

On the weekdays, after classes, they stayed in their library, usually accompanied by Draco. Occasionally, Neville or a Ravenclaw named Luna would join them, and doing homework was never boring with the former's toad causing trouble or the latter's random creatures.

Although none of them were entirely sure how Hermione and Luna got along so well, one practical and the other one… not so much, they did. In fact, Melanie even said that it reminded her of how Ron and Draco got along, oddly enough.

The four house elves had become something like their personal house elves whenever they had the time (though it was irritating when their stuff just got organized and they could never find anything).

Every Friday and Saturday night, the four of them would retreat to their dorms early to sleep. They requested for the house elves to wake them up just after midnight so that they could use that time to search for the book.

Harry's invisibility cloak certainly came in handy on those nights, though Hermione had vowed to learn a spell to disguise them after Ron's umpteenth complaint about the cloak being too small (he was the one that had to crouch down the most, after all. Melanie was lucky, being the shortest.).

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, they slept in and had a small meal delivered to their dorms by the elves.

What took up most of their time, though, was work.

It was worse than last year, especially because of Divination (_What a waste of time, having to make up predictions_). It was obvious that Hermione was starting to feel the strain of all the subjects she was taking, and it had become rare to see her when her hands and face weren't spotted with ink.

They hadn't found much in their midnight searches, though Ron blamed that on the fact that they had to travel together ("I'm working on finding the spell, Ronald!"). Not only that, but they had to be very careful not to get caught by the patrolling staff members (_Bloody Black, putting all the professors on edge. Couldn't he have waited a year to escape Azkaban?_).

Ron was sure that they would've found the book by now if not for the teachers.

Probably.

~.~.~.~.~

_Stupid Binns, _Ron thought with a scowl.

He'd finished the rest of his work yesterday (partially, mostly, because of Hermione's nagging, and partially because he wanted today to relax). But, of course, that just meant another teacher would give them work.

And it just had to be History of Magic.

History of Magic was definitely his least favourite subject. While Potions was horrid and Divination dreadful, they both had their interesting points.

The only event that had ever been interesting in a History of Magic class had been when Hermione asked about the Chamber of secrets last year.

How exactly was Ron supposed to find the smallest amount of joy while deliberately cramping his hand by rambling on about something in an essay that was much, much too long? Nobody could even find enough relevant information, except for Hermione and one Slytherin boy who actually liked the subject, just like how nobody could enjoy doing so, except for those two.

And so everybody (_Everybody sane, anyways_) was forced to research, ramble, and repeat.

"I don't get it," Ron complained, unable to keep his frustrations to himself. "How can anybody find enough information to write enough?"

Melanie, Harry, and Draco all looked up from their essays and nodded fervently. The four of them turned to look at Hermione, who was editing her essay (which was, of course, longer than the requirement). Sure enough, she put the essay down with a sigh.

"It's called research, Ronald." She gestured at the books surrounding her (though as far as Ron could tell, only three of them were related to the topic).

"I do research," he protested indignantly.

It was true after all; he did research. Perhaps not as much as Hermione, but more than he was sure anybody thought he did.

"What I don't get," said Draco, "is why there's always fire in this room."

Beside him, Ron saw Melanie smirk slightly.

He sighed. "Honestly, it would be nice to do my work without worrying about it catching on fire." He glared at one of the flames, which was slowly, but deliberately, inching towards his essay.

_I'll bet Melanie's doing that on purpose._

It stopped, sputtered, and died out, leaving no traces of its existence.

The blond Slytherin grinned in triumph, only to groan in horror when three more small flames appeared in the former's place.

Some frantic hand waving later, the three flames were also no more.

Ron turned to Melanie and mocking lectured, "That's not very nice, you know."

She simply raised an eyebrow at him in response.

"Alright, I didn't really mind watching him trying to put out the fires," he admitted, "but why did you put them out at all?"

She hesitated for a moment before replying. "I didn't."

Ron scanned her face. He knew she didn't like to lie, that much was obvious. Whenever she did, it was obvious from her fidgeting. As well, she kept telling him vague half-truths instead of feeding him with a lie to get him to stop pestering her.

"Then how did the fires go out?"

A shrug.

_That's helpful._

**{A/N Kind of a short chapter, but I really wasn't sure what else to put in it. Don't be shy, leave a review!**

**Question: If you could choose any book, movie, comic, anime, etc. which one would you want to live in?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	14. Brooding Brother

**{A/N Chapter Fourteen. Thanks to Lily F. Lux (I thought I'd get at least one answer like this! Hogwarts would probably be up there on my list of fandoms to live in as well, though I'd probably choose a peaceful period of time to avoid getting killed. :3) and Dazer95 (That'd be awesome too! What element would you choose?) for reviewing! *throws streamers and confetti*}**

It was dangerous, what she had done in the library. Even so, Melanie couldn't repress her grin.

She'd controlled the small flames perfectly (well, they were small and they still had flickered, but it was better than before, right?).

She had been thinking about her Potions problem while writing her essay and had come up with the idea of trying to control small fires in the library.

_In my defence, _she thought, _I thought that I would work better under large amounts of pressure instead of the possible threat that I may or may not melt a cauldron or make the contents of the potion explode. _Then she realized that she was arguing with herself when she hadn't even felt the need to criticize of reprimand herself in the first place.

**_Yep,_**Steven piped up before she could think it. **_You're insane._**

_Oh, shut up and help me think of Christmas gifts._

**_Which is it that you wanted; me to shut up or to help you think of gifts?_**

Melanie scowled and shut a metaphorical door in Steven's metaphorical face. After a moment, she sighed and got rid of the door.

_Gifts, please. _

He was definitely holding back a laugh, **_Alright, for who?_**

Christmas was coming in the next few weeks, and Melanie was planning what gifts she would get for everybody. Harry was going to Hogsmeade the next weekend anyways (thanks to the Weasley twins), so she had decided that she would follow him there, but to buy the gifts. After all, she didn't particularly want to stay with them and overhead how Sirius Black was the traitor (false).

She 'spoke' with Steven and, one by one, came up with a list of things she would need to buy (and some alternatives that would be better, if they existed).

_This is a really long list of stuff to get…_

**_Don't complain to me; you're the one who chose all the people._**

~.~.~.~.~

The Hogsmeade weekend had finally arrived, and it happened to be on the very last weekend of their term, which doubly boosted the Christmas spirit.

Decorations seemed to surpass the past year's on every occasion. It seemed nearly impossible that, every holiday, Melanie was completely stunned by the effort put into the castle's appearance (even if most of it was done with magic).

Even each of the teacher's had their own way of decorating the classrooms, although Professor Flitwick's was the most memorable.

The lights in the Charms classroom were beautiful, if extremely distracting, and made all the more amazing when they saw that the lights were fairies. Of course, it was a perfect opportunity for somebody (who else but the Weasley twins?) to 'accidentally' leave the classroom door wide open and 'accidentally' cast a spell that scared all the fairies out of the room.

The fairies roamed all around Hogwarts, and the professor awarded a capture of one (unharmed, thank you very much) with a House point.

Needless to say, fairy-catching became a very popular sport.

After the 'Fairy Fiasco', none of the teachers would let Fred or George stay in a classroom for too long after or before the actual class.

Students were all discussing their plans for the holidays, inviting friends over or bragging to them about the trips they were going on.

For Melanie, Ron, Harry, and Hermione, it was good news hearing how many students were gone for the break. Hopefully, none of the teachers would be patrolling the hallways and they would be able to properly search for the book.

On the morning of the Hodsmeade trip, Melanie made sure to stay by Harry's side and, very subtly, lead them to where she knew the Weasley twins would be. The first time, however, they weren't there. The fourth time was when her brother spoke up.

"Okay, really?" Harry shot his sister a look. "What's your obsession with this corridor?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've led us through the corridor five times already!"

She grinned sheepishly. "I have no idea what you mean. Heh… heh… Look, a distraction!"

Harry looked over, then face palmed. "I cannot believe I just fell for that…"

"We can't believe it either," came a voice from behind the statue of the humpbacked, one-eyed witch.

Both Potters turned to look at the statue and saw the Weasley twins come out from behind it. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked, trying to take the topic off himself. "Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred mysteriously. "Come in here."

He led them into an empty classroom beside the statue, George following behind them to close the door.

"Early Christmas present for you two," said George, before furrowing his brow. "Though, there is only one. Oh well."

Melanie pouted. _Aw… I guess Harry can get it... I could always see it from his/my memories?_

Her brother blinked rapidly, looking at the 'plain' piece of parchment. "What is that supposed to be other than my History of Magic essay?"

"Harry, you said you finished that!"

"…You're turning into Hermione."

"This, Harry," George said, interrupting Melanie's retort, "is the secret of our success."

Fred grinned, continuing. "It's a wrench, giving it to you, but we decided that your need's greater than ours."

"Anyway, we know it by heart. We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."

Harry raised his eyebrow. "So, what do I need with a bit of old parchment?"

Fred clapped a hand to his heart. "A bit of old parchment? Explain, George."

The other Weasley twin launched into an explanation about how they found the Marauder's map, what is was, and how Harry needed it. Melanie didn't pay attention, but instead examined the 'old bit of parchment' herself.

**_That is fantastic, _**Steven said, summarizing her thoughts in three words.

So absorbed was she in her observations that she didn't notice when Fred and George left the room. She did, however, notice Harry bopping her over the head.

"Well? You coming to Hogsmeade or what?"

She nodded, childishly sticking her tongue out at him. "Obviously."

They headed through the secret passage into Hogsmeade (more specifically, into Honeydukes) silently, not wanting to risk the possibility of getting caught (_Though, who would be listening in on a secret passage?_)_._

Eventually, they did get to the end of the passage. It took quite a while, but the thought of Hogsmeade was obviously encouraging Harry, and Melanie had to keep up.

"Ouch!" The light illuminating the passage was dim, but she could see Harry rubbing his head. "There's a stupid trapdoor here."

"Well, open it."

The trapdoor was opened slowly, and both of them peered through the widening crack. It was a cellar, the one in Honeydukes. They exited quickly and ducked behind two large crates before getting the opportunity to sneak out of the cellar.

It was good that this Hogsmeade trip was a very busy one; neither Harry nor Melanie attracted much attention.

It was doubly good, and coincidental, that they were able to find Ron and Hermione in the first building they were in, amidst all the people.

"Harry," Melanie said, "I'm going to go do some Christmas shopping, since we're here anyways."

He waved her off dismissively. "Sure, see you later back at the castle."

She got her way through the crowd of Hogswarts students, though she received a few angry glares from those she pushed out of the way. Once she was outside of Honeydukes, Melanie realized why everybody was inside the shops.

_It's cold. _

As her temperature rose to counter the icy weather, she had to continually pace to avoid melting any patches of snow too much.

_Which way am I supposed to go now?_

"Oh, great."

~.~.~.~.~

It'd taken her quite a while yesterday to finish her Christmas shopping, between almost getting lost and trying to find what she was looking for. When she finally did, though, her mood plummeted as Melanie recalled why exactly she didn't want to follow Harry around.

_And now I have to deal with angry Harry. _She sighed. _Oh joy._

Along with Ron and Hermione, who had explained the whole situation to her when they found her in Zonko's, she waited outside the Slytherin entrance. Luckily, it was the first day of the holidays, meaning that they'd only been stared at by a few Slytherins instead of the dozens that were sure to have been at Hogwarts on any normal day.

"How long do you think Harry's going to stay in there?" Hermione asked.

Ron sighed. "He better get out here soon. I don't want to stay outside the snake den any longer than I have to."

_If my stubborn, brooding brother doesn't get out by the time the next Slytherin boy does, I'm sending said Slytherin in to fetch him. _

That was indeed what she had to resort to, though the boy didn't look happy about being sent on an errand by a Hufflepuff. He did agree to do it when offered a few candies that she had purchased the day before.

The first words out of Hermione's mouth were, "Harry, you look terrible."

Ron nodded. "Mate, you look worse than Fred and George after a Gryffindor party. Ouch, Hermione, why'd you hit me? You basically said the same thing!"

When the usual jokes and violence got no reaction out of Harry, Hermione frowned. "You really don't look that well."

"I'm fine," was the abrupt answer.

_And cue the Hermione and Ron speech about how he shouldn't go after Sirius in 3… 2… 1…_

"Harry, listen…"

_And there it is!_

**_Are you really so bored that you're narrating everything in your thoughts?_**

Melanie thought for a second. _Not bored, exactly. Well, I guess I am pretty bored. Really, I'm just waiting for me turn to be able to say something, but I think interrupting in the middle of a speech wouldn't do anything._

"…Mel?"

She shook herself out of her thoughts. "Sorry, what?"

"Hermione wanted to know how you were feeling about this since, her words, I'm being too 'broody' to think clearly."

"Well," she started slowly, "nothing's really changed, has it?"

"What do-"

She held her hands in front of her. "Hear me out, Har. Nothing's really changed. While it really does suck knowing that our parents were betrayed by a rotten rat of a friend." Here she stopped for a second, sorely tempted to correct Ron when he muttered, "Bloody Black."

Keeping her face blank, she continued. "We really can't do anything about it. After all, like Hermione and Ron stated in their lovely speech, going after a grown man who managed to escape Azkaban wouldn't be the smartest thing, now would it?"

All three of her friends were speechless for a moment, choosing to stare at her. Harry was looking thoughtful (and less angry), Hermione thankful, but Ron's gaze held a bit of suspicion in it.

_Was I being too calm? _The mental question she directed at Steven, who immediately responded by conjuring up a mental image of a big checkmark.

_Damn._

"Let's go visit Hagrid," decided Harry after a while, though his tone was much calmer than any of them would have imagined.

Still, Hermione shot him an exasperated glance. "You know you can't ask Hagrid why he never told you about Black, right? It's pretty much admitting that we overheard him at Hogsmeade, and he knows that if only Ron and I overheard him, we probably wouldn't have told you because we knew you'd react…"

"Like a very angry teenager," Ron concluded.

The black haired boy deflated slightly, but brightened up the next moment. "Well, we still haven't seen Hagrid in ages."

They each went back to their dormitories to grab their cloaks, and headed out into the snow.

"You know," said Melanie, "I would appreciate it if you didn't crowd me."

"We'll get hypothermia!"

"…You won't get hypothermia, Hermione."

"Better safe than sorry."

"I'm going to develop a sudden case of claustrophobia." Thankfully for all four of them, they got to Hagrid's hut relatively quickly. Once the door opened, Melanie braced herself for a tearful Hagrid and was pleasantly surprised by a grinning one.

_Seems like Draco didn't tell his father… _

**_Good he learned from last year, isn't it?_**

They spent the rest of their day in Hagrid's hut, trying to convince him that the salamanders were a good topic for the chilly winter ("No, I don't think Professor Dumbledore will allow you to bring in chimeras or trolls to teach Hogwarts students, even if they are seventh years.")

Harry did manage to sneak in a question about Sirius Black, which had Hagrid stammering for a good minute before he decided to make some tea.

All in all, Melanie thought it was a much better visit to Hagrid's than what could have happened.

**{A/N Okay, end of a chapter! I'm kind of frustrated that I have writer's block in the summer, which would be an otherwise awesome time for me to start spam writing. But no, writer's block. Well, thanks to everybody who's still reading!**

**Question: If you could choose one book, movie, fandom, etc. (that isn't Harry Potter XP) for you to be reborn into as the main character and be able to change everything, what would you choose?}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	15. Found It

**{A/N Chapter Fifteen. Thanks to Lily F. Lux (Please find some magical device that makes that happen! The books would be a gazillion+ times better if you substituted in for the main character! XD), Dazer95 (That would be fun, wouldn't it? Thanks once more for the encouragement!), and kotyheart (Stupid writer's block. It'll disappear when school starts again, just you wait. But, of course, I won't have time to write when school starts. Thanks!) for reviewing!}**

"Hermione, when are you going to find that spell?"

Ron's only answer was an exasperated _huff, _though he supposed that was better than the earful he received the fifth time he'd asked that question.

But really, it was the third time in a row that they'd stayed up past midnight looking for the stupid book, meaning that it was also the third night (technically morning) in a row that he'd have to go to sleep and wake up with a really stiff back and neck.

Could he be blamed for his irritation?

The logical part of him said that yes, he could and he should really stop bothering Hermione about it when he wasn't trying to find the spell himself, and she had much more work to do than he anyways.

His aching back and cramped neck shut that voice up.

_Well, might as well ask her an eleventh time. _"Really, when-"

He was cut off by a hand over his mouth. It muffled his talking just as Professor Snape swooped (for a lack of better word) down the corridor. He looked over for a second, almost meeting their startled gazes, but dismissed the small noise he must've heard.

Avoiding patrolling professors was easier as Harry had brought the Marauder's Map with him. But whenever Ron looked at the map, he couldn't help but feel jealous that his brothers had given it to Harry, not having once even shown it to their own younger brother.

Once Professor Snape was out of sight, Ron pushed the hand away from his mouth. "You know, this is the seventh time that he's missed us this year."

There was a moment of silence which was broken shortly afterwards.

"Ouch! Hermione, can you stop that? You're going to give me a concussion one day!"

Said brunette _huffed _againand crossed her arms, dangerously shifting the cloak around them. "Well, I wouldn't have to do that if you stopped bothering me and stopped almost getting us caught. Besides, I'm not hitting you that hard, so stop complaining!"

"Probably hurts her hand more than your head, anyways," added Melanie.

"Is it 'Gang up on the ginger' day or something?"

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed long-sufferingly. "Mate, I don't know if you've noticed, but Mel's hair is red too."

The three of them fell into muffled giggles as they heard Ron's grumbled complaints about 'Gang up on the Weasley day.'

For the next few hours, the four of them wandered around under the cloak aimlessly. They were still unsure of where to go, so their logic was to just walk down random corridors every night until they found something.

So far, that plan only succeeded in exhausting them for the next morning.

"Alright," said Hermione, "I don't think we're going to find anything today, so we might as well head back to our dorms to sleep for what's left of the night."

Ron's protest died on his lips, interrupted by a yawn. He looked over and grinned sheepishly when he saw that Harry and Melanie were doing the same. The three of them exchanged an eye roll.

"Yes, Miss Granger," they all chorused, doing their best to look like innocent children.

By the time their bushy haired friend stopped spluttering in indignation, they were at the Ravenclaw Common Room entrance. They bid her a hasty good night before pulling the cloak off her and running away while chuckling.

Ron got dropped off at the Gryffindor Common Room next, slightly peeved that Harry got the painting of the Fat Lady open with the password. Even if he knew the password, it would be more polite if he didn't use it, thank him very much. It seemed that his black haired friend could sense Ron's slight annoyance and felt it prudent to make it worse with a smug grin.

Very quietly, Ron snuck up to his dorm, breathing a sigh of relief when he realized that everybody was asleep.

He'd been questioned, rather grumpily, by his roommates as to why he was up so late (early?), and once he'd even been caught by Fred and George.

But it was the twins so they decided to scare him to death by popping out of the shadows instead of asking him why he'd been up so late… early… whatever.

_Come to think of it, I don't know why they were up then. _He sighed, now distracted.

Well, at least he'd have the excuse of that fact that he was 'deep in thought' and he couldn't fall asleep, therefore he would be too tired to do work tomorrow. He hoped that would convince Hermione to stop making him do his work to the extent that she was.

The next morning, he got woken up by the house elf holding a tray of food for breakfast.

Thankfully, none of the boys in his dorm tried to wake him anymore. They'd learned not to interfere with his sleep if he was able to sleep through their talking in the mornings. A few of the occurrences before they learned that had been loud and grumpy, one of which included a very tired and irritated Ron nearly flooding the Gryffindor tower.

There really wasn't much to do at Hogwarts during the holidays, and he longingly thought of the meals prepared by his mother back at the Burrow.

Though, even if there wasn't much to do, they practically had Hogwarts all to themselves. With the Marauder's Map, they could avoid running into any of the others that were staying over the break. Most of their day was spent exploring Hogwarts, and most of their nights were spent searching for the book.

Hermione, however, decided that they should still be spending an hour or two in the library every day.

And that's how the four of them ended up in their private room, reluctantly studying and writing.

"Honestly, Hermione," said Melanie, "I don't think it's normal for one person to want to work so much."

"I mean, I know you're a Ravenclaw and all…" Harry started.

Taking his cue, Ron spoke up. "But this is just ridiculous!"

"Oh, be quiet you three," she snapped, but with a grin. "It never hurts to be prepared, and we need to be prepared for the exams at the end of the year, after all."

"It's December!" all three of them said.

"You're-"

"-absolutely-"

"-bloody mental!"

"And the three of you are worse than Fred and George. You're like the Weasley triplets or something!"

"We-"

"-are-"

"-offended!"

At that, Hermione abandoned working in favour of moving her bottle of ink away so she could slam her head into the table repeatedly. "I wonder if Rowena ever felt like this."

Because it was only the four of them, they spoke about the Founders freely while doing work in the library.

Nevillle had gone home for the holidays, looking a mixture of nervous excitement at the thought of a big Christmas party with his relatives. Luna had done the same, though it was just going to be her, her father, and a few close friends. From what they'd managed to understand, they were spending the few weeks searching for some magical (non-existent, as Hermione insisted) creatures.

Ginny, though still at Hogwarts, was much too shy about being near Harry without either Luna or Neville there as well. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, she got along brilliantly with both of them.

The Slytherins that occasionally joined them in the library (Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Draco, and even Crabbe and Goyle sometimes) were all back home for the holidays. They were all celebrating the festivities in some way or another.

Draco wasn't at Hogwarts because there was some massive, exclusive party going on, and the boy had made sure to tell Ron how absolutely _posh _and _rich _everybody was. Despite that he'd invited them, but they'd all declined the invitation (Harry because Lucius Malfoy was sure to be there, Hermione because she was a Muggleborn, Ron because he really didn't want to put up with Draco for an extended period of time, and Melanie because none of them were going).

"Well she is the literal definition of a Ravenclaw," Melanie pointed out, "so I think it's safe to guess that she had a work habit like yours and the other three are like us."

Hermione sighed before perking up. "Fine, then. Don't work, fail your exams, repeat third year. Go ahead."

That got the three of them working again, however unlikely it would be for them to fail bad enough to warrant repeating a year. The silence only lasted for a few moments before Melanie decided to break it.

"Are we going to open Christmas presents or not?"

They all looked at the four piles of gifts, which they had brought down to the library. They wanted to do the gift opening together, seeing as they were unable to do so last year (after all, petrified people can't exactly open presents).

Now thoroughly distracted, Harry, Ron, and Melanie each grabbed a present from their own pile and stared at Hermione until she did the same.

All of them opened the typical Weasley Christmas gift, the other three making Ron promise to pass on the thanks. He reluctantly put on the jumper (_Why am I the only one mum's colourblind to?_), grinning at how Hermione's had made her hair bushier than ever once pulled over her hair. The food each of them received, and were undoubtedly expected to share with each other, was hidden away in the boxes to be consumed later. Hermione was adamant in that, not wanting to get kicked out of the library any more times.

Ron picked up a box from the twins while the other three opened the ones from Draco. The Gryffindor felt slightly insulted at that but ignored it in favour of his wariness for the box in front of him.

_Now if I know Fred and George…_

Sure enough, the box lid, once pulled up just the slightest bit, rocketed up. He immediately ducked down, allowing the lid and some goo to fly up and land on the table.

"That's going to be a pain to get rid of."

Inside the actual box was an interesting looking kit, looking as though it had been put together by the twins themselves. There were various items and a set of instructions to all of them. The items all had one purpose that Ron could spot; causing mayhem.

Thankfully, beside an odd looking whistle, there were ten blue pellets with instructions on how to remove once activated.

Ron grinned widely, imagining the chaos that he could cause. "So it looks like the twins got me a prank kit. Homemade, too."

"I'm so glad I'm not in Gryffindor right now," said Melanie, eying the patch of blue goo apprehensively. "So what'd you guys open?"

Harry gestured at the Quidditch pitch snow globe in front of him, his eyes following the miniscule Snitch.

Rolling her eyes at him, Hermione said, "I got this quill that, according to this letter, bewitches the ink so that it's invisible once a certain spell is cast upon it. It can be turned visible by another spell, but only if it is done by the same wand."

"So what's the spell?"

She smirked slightly at the curious Melanie. "You'll have to find out for yourself."

"Fine, be that way!" She pouted but stopped when they turned to her. "Oh, me. Right. It's this really neat necklace that gives off light when I want it to, but only to me."

Their work lay forgotten, some of which was covered in the blue gunk, as they were enjoyed Christmas. Presents were opened, and they told each other what they had gotten other people ("Did you really get Draco Muggle things, Melanie?" "I wonder if he'll ever use those pens but …Hermione, didn't you get him a book about proper Hippogrif care?")

At last Ron reached for the very large rectangular gift, feeling it was probably something interesting if all three of them decided to stop going through their piles to stare at him.

_Bloody hell. _He stared wide-eyed at what was in front of him. _Who is this from? _

There was a small piece of paper lying on top of it, which he gingerly picked up in the, ridiculous, fear of damaging the present. On the paper were four signatures: Harry, Melanie, Hermione, and Draco.

"You guys," said Ron in disbelief, "got me a broomstick?"

His only response was three wide grins

Ron felt slightly conflicted. He absolutely hated charity given to him and detested even the slightly hint of a mention of his financial status.

But he could tell that this wasn't exactly charity. They weren't handing him money, a new set of robes, or anything like that. A broomstick was something that, while expensive, couldn't be counted as charity in his mind because of its impracticality.

But still. It was a broomstick.

And a Nimbus at that.

He flashed briefly through his slightly irritation and anger, but eventually settled on being overwhelmed by gratitude. "Thank you all so much." His eyes drifted to the window in their room. Snow was falling quite heavily, which mean that he'd have to wait to try out the new broom.

Melanie's grin looked like it could match his. "You're very welcome, Ron."

"Hopefully now you'll stop bugging me about that spell." When he shook his head, Hermione sighed in resignation. "Figures."

"You can race Fred and George on their new brooms too," added Harry, though he frowned after a second. "At least, you can if they had the sense to give the letter we wrote to your mum first. I really hope they did, so she doesn't think they're taking advantage of us."

"Har," Melanie said suddenly, "looks like Ron wasn't the only one to get a broom for Christmas."

Their attention was redirected to a parcel with Harry's gifts that resembled the one Ron just opened greatly. _How did Harry miss that when he was carrying those to the library?_

The Slytherin boy looked at Melanie questioningly, then at Hermione when the redhead shook her head. When Hermione slowly shook hers as well, Harry reached over and grabbed the gift.

_Bloody hell, _Ron mentally repeated. _It's a Firebolt. _

"Who sent it to you?" asked Ron in a quiet voice, not wanting to be too loud and possibly wake them up from the fact that this was not a dream.

"There's no card," Melanie pointed out.

"Blimey, who'd spend that much on you?" Noticing Hermione's raised eyebrow that expressed 'Ron-you're-being-insensitive', he corrected himself. "I mean, not who'd spent that much on _you, _more like who'd spend that _much_?"

"Well, I'm better it wasn't the Dursleys."

Melanie scoffed. "You'd win that bet." She paused, inspecting the broomstick. "Unless it's just an actual broom."

Closer inspection on Ron's part confirmed that it was not a broomstick that you'd actually use for sweeping, but instead ones you'd use for Quidditch. The amount of detail and care put into the broom was a testament to that, as well as the registration number.

"It could be Dumbledore," Ron said. "He did send you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously…"

"But I don't think he'd buy a Firebolt," countered Hermione. "A Nimbus, maybe."

"The Cloak was my dad's, though," Harry said. "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me, and he can't spend hundreds of galleons on a student."

"What about Draco?" Melanie suggested, though to Ron's ears the suggestion sounded half-hearted. "He did keep offering to get you a broom, after all."

Again, Harry shook his head. "If he got me a broom, it'd either be a Nimbus or a really old one as a joke. Though, if it was him that got me this, I'm going to feel pretty lousy that I just got him candy."

Ron concentrated, thinking of people who they knew that might have wanted to do this. "It could be Lupin, but probably not."

"Who'd send Harry something that expensive and not even tell him that they were the one who did it?" Hermione's expression was contemplative, but also worried oddly enough.

"Who cares?" Ron said, as dismissively as possible, wanting to get Hermione away from whatever she was thinking.

"I do!"

"Not the time, Melanie." She pouted very childishly but didn't say anything else. "Harry, can I have a go on it when it stops blizzarding?"

"I don't think anybody should ride that broom just yet," said Hermione, using her 'professor voice.'

"Why not?"

"It's a bit suspicious that somebody would do this, isn't it?" Ron couldn't help but nod, though he was scowling at the same time. "And remember in first year, when Harry's broomstick got cursed?" Again, he nodded and saw Harry do so as well.

"So what you're saying is that you're afraid somebody sent Harry a cursed broomstick?" This time, Hermione nodded in response to Ron's question. "But why would they blow hundreds of galleons on something that would most likely end up getting destroyed anyways?"

Hermione responded immediately, as though she'd already come up with her entire argument. "Because whoever it is, if it is cursed, probably knows that you and Harry wouldn't think twice about such an amazing broom. After all, you were just talking about riding it, weren't you?"

"What do you think I should do?" asked Harry, though slightly warily.

"I think it'd be best if…" She paused for a moment. "If we take it to a professor and get it checked."

"WHAT?!" Ron yelled as he slammed both hands onto the desk, forgetting for a moment that he was in the library. There were a few _thuds _indicating that books had fallen, along with a shout from Madam Pince. Melanie, sighing, stood up and went to go replace the books on the shelves.

"Sorry!" he called out, before lowering his voice and turning back to Hermione. "They'll end up stripping the broom! Who knows what it'll do to the Firebolt?"

"Think about it," Hermione urged. "If the broom is really cursed…"

"Uh, guys?" said Melanie.

"But it could damage the broom forever!" Ron protested.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sure the professors would be careful."

_Maybe it could help, _Ron admitted mentally, though he was still miffed about having to do that to a Firebolt.

"Guys?" Melanie said again, louder this time.

Seeing Ron's lack of protests, which he'd run out of, Harry asked, "Are you sure I should do this?"

"Better safe than sorry."

"Guys!" Melanie practically yelled, receiving a grumbled, "You're lucky that there's nobody else in the library," from Madam Pince.

"What?" the three of them said, turning to her.

Oddly enough, she was holding up a book and looking at it as if she found the encyclopaedia of everything.

The book itself was nothing impressive. It looked old, like many of the books were, but not old enough to be anything of extreme value. The leather covers looked sturdy enough, though they looked slightly cracked in some places. But the strange thing was that it didn't seem to have a title nor an author. In fact, the book's cover, back, and side were all completely blank.

"Found it," Melanie said simply, as if that would answer all their questions.

"It?"

"It," she confirmed with a meaningful look. When none of them said anything, she entered the room and opened the book to the first page, where the names of all four Founders were present.

"That's not…"

In response to Ron's unfinished statement, she turned to the second page, which had pictures of four very familiar bracelets.

Ron blinked rapidly, not quite wanting to believe it. "You mean to tell me that this _book _was in the _library _the entire bloody time?"

**{A/N Can't think of anything to write. *-* Inserts Christmas chapter with plenty of gifts! I have no idea where I'm going with this. I know what the last few chapters are going to be like, but the chapters before that are all just blank. Hopefully, I'll have some epiphany overnight.**

**Well, not exactly a question this time, but it's something I've wondered about ever since the Fidelus charm was brought up. **

**Why wasn't James the Secret Keeper for Godric's Hollow? I mean, he basically wouldn't have been allowed to leave anyways (or at least that's what I'm presuming. But even if he was allowed to leave, I think one would have to assume that his bond with Lily and Harry would've been stronger than his friends' bond with those two). **

**Therefore, if he was the Secret Keeper, everything would've been safe. If he needed to tell somebody else the address, they could've just been led to a place very close to Godric's Hollow, been told the address, and then been ushered away very quickly.**

**And, while I'm on this rant, why wasn't Sirius the Secret Keeper for Grimmauld Place? He literally wasn't allowed/ supposed to leave, so it would've been safer. (Of course there's the fact that the address would've been a lot less safe after the fifth book, but none of the characters knew that).**

**Long rant over. If anybody has a reason for why that didn't happen, please tell me before my mind is completely consumed by curiosity!}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	16. Reading and Talking

**{Chapter Sixteen. Really sorry for the wait, but I'm just starting to run out of inspiration (and excuses). *-* Thanks to That Elusive Reader (I've actually been wondering if I should read the Matched series. Should I? XD Glad that you didn't drop off the surface of the earth, thanks for the reviews, and I'm doubly glad that you're still reading and liking Melanie!), kotyheart (I love driving people crazy, so maybe my writer's block is doing that on purpose, hmm? It's really reassuring that you think that I'm getting his personality right, so thanks a bunch for that!), and Dazer95 (I feel as though my thanks are starting to get repetitive, but I'm saying it anyways. Thanks so much for reviewing!) for reviewing! Seems like I've spread my question to all of you, huh? XD**

**Still not J.K. Rowling.}**

"Of all the hiding spots," said Harry, shaking his head.

Ron joined Harry in his dismayed head shaking. "Can't believe you didn't bother to check the library, Hermione."

"I can't believe I didn't check there either!"

"Well," Melanie said, "at least the Founders have a sense of humour."

The book was absolutely fascinating.

Harry was reading over the shoulder of Hermione, who was re-re-re-reading it. Both Melanie and Ron were there as well, each of them occasionally jostling the other for a better view.

So far, they'd learned quite a bit. Apparently, the bracelets were magical items that chose the four main elemental people, but there were others who had 'Natural magic'. They had a goal to find those people, but had no idea where to start looking.

As well, there was a page for each of the elements which had explanations from each of the Founders. They each had suggestions for exercises with their magic, though Salazar's page was mainly filled with prank ideas. Melanie's slightly maniacal grin when she read through the suggestions was rather frightening.

Their concern for the Firebolt had faded since finding the book, meaning that it was currently in Harry's dorm. He was hoping that Hermione might forget about it, however unlikely that was. She definitely wouldn't forget if he walked onto the Quidditch pitch with it.

His attention was drawn back to the book when Hermione flipped the page, ignoring the protests of both Melanie and Ron.

"Haven't you already read through it?" Ron asked irritably.

The Ravenclaw bookworm didn't even bother looking up from the book. "Why are you so worked up about it? It's 'just a book', after all."

Harry hid his grin. She was literally quoting Ron's words about most other books, and his ear's turned red as he realized it too.

But the book was anything that 'just a book'.

Even though they rolled their eyes at Ron's exclamations about how it was the Founders' book, it was that which added to all their fascination. The book was a very useful source of knowledge (some of which would've been nice to know earlier), but it wasn't written in the formal way most books were.

It was very clearly written by the Founders, each of them contributing in different points if the different handwriting was any indication.

There was hardly anything from the Founders, let alone an entire book full of banter and information.

"This isn't exactly just a book," Ron pointed out. "It's by the Founders, not by some random witch or wizard that had too much time of their hands."

_At least he didn't emphasize that it was the Founders this time… _

Recently, Ron had stopped doing that, perhaps having gotten over his hero worship or because he realized that the other three just weren't as impressed by it (not to say that they weren't in permanent disbelief about the whole thing, though).

Maybe it really was the hero worship wearing off considering how little of a reaction what Hermione said next created.

"Let's go see if we can talk to the Founders. I have some questions to ask, anyways." Sure enough, she was holding a sheet of parchment covered with questions.

"Can we just go see them like that?"

Hermione only shrugged in answer to Melanie's question, causing a chain reaction of shrugs. The four of them all pressed a finger to their bracelet.

~.~.~.~.~

Harry groaned, pushing up his glasses to rub his eyes. It was definitely way too bright in that odd flash of light.

_Never going to get used to that._

It took him a few moments to locate the other three who, thankfully, weren't a long distance away from each other this time. They'd all agreed to try and focus on getting into this 'world' in the same place, which was the theoretical center. They shuffled closer to each other, standing in a small group to wait for the arrival of the four Founders.

Like the first time they met them, the first sign of their arrival was smoke.

The second was an indignant shout of, "Damn it, Salazar! Must you do this every time?"

"Why not?" shouted Melanie, getting a mischievous grin on her face that caused Harry to groan.

"See?" said Salazar happily, obviously grinning. "She gets it!"

There were three sighs, Rowena being the loudest. "I have a new theory now. The heat exposure and smoke must do something detrimental to your mental state."

There was a round of laughter at that, though Harry, who was standing closest to Melanie, noticed her tense slightly.

"Don't worry; you're not insane yet," he whispered teasingly. Her smile grew a bit more sincere as she rolled her eyes.

"So you found it?" asked Helga, smiling happily when they nodded.

"And Hermione's been the only one that's actually read it," said Ron, sighing.

Their Ravenclaw friend pouted. "Well, I wanted to finish reading it first so I could ask questions and help clear up things for you. I'm also the fastest reader, so it does make sense for me to have read it first, does it not? And no," she added when Ron opened his mouth, "just because I finished this book doesn't mean that I'll spend time searching through the library for a spell that'll make us invisible."

"…I wasn't going to ask that. I was going to ask, er, what, um, your questions were."

He was met by three raised eyebrows, but Hermione shrugged and started to ask Rowena questions.

"The book said something about 'secondary powers,' but none of you really explained what that meant." Hermione's tone turned a bit petulant at the end.

"It's basically what it sounds like," said Godric. "Secondary power; a side effect of the primary power of elements." When their looks of confusion and curiosity didn't disappear, he continued with, "I have a sort of store of energy that I can access, but it takes a while to 'recharge.'"

"I can tell when people lie," added Rowena.

"I'm good at finding things, even people," said Helga.

When the three of them turned to Salazar, he just shrugged and said, "Runes."

_Wonder what mine is… _Harry couldn't particularly recall anything out of the ordinary that happened more than once. Most of the weird magical things that happened were either directly related to wind or his accidental magic, but nothing could be grouped together into a third category.

Hermione looked lost in thought for a few moments before she shook her head and continued. "How many more Natural magic people are there?" Four shrugs. "Well, how are we supposed to find them if we don't know how many of them there are?"

Helga's smile widened at Hermione's look of dismay. "I remember being told something like how the bracelets will be able to help you locate them, though I'm not entirely sure how."

_That's really helpful. _Without even having to look, Harry knew that the other three agreed with his sarcastic thought.

"Speaking of these bracelets," said Hermione, "do they happen to translate languages?"

Salazar squinted, seemingly deep in thought. "There's never been any real need of that, but I suppose they could. Why do you ask?"

"That's obvious," Ron said, though he averted his gaze a second later as he realized just who exactly he had said such a condescending thing to. "I mean that, well, don't you know?"

Harry looked in confusion at the other three at the Founders' complete obliviousness. "It's been around a thousand years, hasn't it?"

"WHAT?" The loud shout from the usually quieter Salazar startled Harry.

"What?" asked Ron as the Founders talk amongst themselves, sounding slightly panicked. "Was it not supposed to be this long?"

"Let's put it this way," Rowena said slowly. "The four before us had only a ten year wait between their last person's death and us being chosen."

_Oh… So… A thousand years, huh?_

"Well, I guess it's been a while then." Melanie turned to Hermione with a grin. "Guess that answers your question, huh? These bracelets do translate languages then."

"Are you sure that it has been so long?"

Hermione nodded, a bit too slow to be certain. "It may not have been quite so long, but it definitely has been more than a few hundred years."

Frowning, Harry asked, "Is there something wrong with that?"

They all turned to Rowena, silently agreeing on electing her their explainer. She sighed and rolled her eyes good naturedly but conceded.

"Not really, but, theoretically, Natural magic is what keeps the other type of magic, the one that witches and wizards are more familiar with, in check and vice versa." She paused for a second, lacing her fingers together in front of her stomach. "Neither are exactly good nor bad, but they are both forms of magic. They help to sustain the other and not upset the balance. If there were little to none with Natural magic abilities…"

"The balance is not balanced," finished Godric simply.

Harry sighed. _Why is it that every time we learn something new, it ends up being something drastic?_

"Is that why Voldemort's still alive?" asked Ron. "Because magic is out of whack?"

"Perhaps," agreed Helga, frowning for the second time they'd ever seen, the first being when they accused Salazar of being a traitor.

Melanie sighed loudly, brushing her hair out of her face with a hand. "We have a lot of to do, don't we."

**{A/N So… Nothing happened really. XD Helga Hufflepuff's a good finder *cough AVPM cough*. On a side note, I'm thinking of reformatting all the previous fanfics in this little series, but nothing's really going to change. I've realized that that's basically the cause of my writer's block (well, part of it at least) so I'll try and get rid of that before the workload starts to pile up. Sorry if it feels like I'm complaining a lot about not being able to think of anything, but I'm just really frustrated. Thanks for your patience! XD I'll try my very best to get another chapter out before the end of the month!}**

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


	17. Firebolts and Dementors

**{A/N Chapter Seventeen. So I've gone and fixed the formatting. As well, in the last chapter, I've replied to all reviews posted after I finished writing, so you can check for my responses if you want. **

**Thanks to That Elusive Reader (Well, you're a groovy reviewer! I've read the Hunger Games. Maybe I'll give the Matched series a shot, when I'm through my list of other books to read, that is. XD We can have writer's block together, I suppose.), kotyheart (Heh, I just loved that line too much to pass it up. Thanks for the encouragement, and sorry for the long wait!), and Dazer95 (That's true. XD Hope that you readers don't mind the increasing waits, though.) for reviewing.}**

It was official.

Harry hated his Patronus lessons.

He was beginning to question if it was worth it. Really, the amount of times he'd heard his parents right before their death had to be doing something psychologically damaging to him. It was probably even a method of mental and emotional torture.

But it was times like this that he hated his stubbornness.

It would be much easier to just sit down and say, 'No, I would rather not listen to my parent's die again and again.' After all, Professor Lupin couldn't actually blame him for that, could he? A lot of other people would make that decision as well, right?

It would be much easier to just let Melanie deal with Dementors from now on. Even if she had to set herself on fire to do it, as long as Ron was nearby, it would be fine. Mostly.

"Are you alright?" asked the professor, looking down in worry.

Harry groaned, but nodded. He pushed himself back up, spending a few moments propped up on his elbows, before standing up and getting ready to try again.

~.~.~.~.~

"Damn, Harry," said Draco with a smirk, "you look like hell warmed over."

"A book dropped in water," Hermione offered.

Melanie grinned too innocently for it to be so. "Like someone drowned the scrawny Harry rat."

They all turned to Ron, who shrugged. "Like you got hit with a Bludger, I s'ppose."

Rolling his eyes, Harry said sarcastically, "Wow, thanks guys." He meant it though, somewhat, as the four of them could always make him laugh.

At once, the four of them all reached over, either slinging an arm over his shoulders or patting his head (with much more force than necessary). "No problem," they all said, wide grins widening even more at his exasperation.

"You're all worse than the Dementors," he grumbled.

_Not really,_ he amended mentally, shivering ever so slightly at the thought of the cold and the death that the Dementors showed him.

Draco seemed to know where his thoughts were going, and also seemed to be determined to distract him. "So did you hear about Flint?"

Harry raised an eyebrow in answer.

"Apparently, he went to go ask McGonagall for your broom back-"

"Which he has been doing ever since Harry showed McGonagall the broom," added Hermione, sounding slightly annoyed. "Honestly, do you Slytherins have no patience? Better safe than dead, correct?"

With a scoff, the blond said, "Just be glad I didn't tell him that you were the one who made Harry give up his broom, alright?"

"… True."

"Anyways," he continued, with a teasing glare at their bushy haired friend, "now Flint's following McGonagall around whenever he can. Somehow he got it into his mind that if he asks enough, it'll speed up the process."

_Why do I have a feeling this story is not going to turn up well? _When Harry voiced his thought out loud, Draco laughed.

"Because it isn't. Really, I'm surprised that Flint hasn't been Transfigured into an animal or something."

Hermione shook her head, slightly despairing at the Slytherin, as Ron hesitantly said, "I don't think that's allowed in any school."

"It would be if I had a school!"

"Draco," Melanie said, putting a hand on his shoulder for emphasis, "I would be very scared for all the children at your school."

"… You should be scared of them too."

~.~.~.~.~

"Do you have any techniques for fighting against Dementors?"

The question came out rather abruptly, a stray thought that Harry had formed into words.

But really, there had to be a better way of fighting Dementors than a Patronus? Or a less traumatic way to learn to fight them?

At the very least, there had to be another way.

"Dementors?" questioned Rowena, with a raised eyebrow. After a quick description, she frowned. "Oh. Those creatures."

"We have not encountered them much as of this age," explained Salazar, "but they are horrid."

As always, the thought of new knowledge had Hermione paying even closer attention, if such a thing was possible. "Do you have ways of dealing with them?"

"Of course!" said Godric. "We'd be fools not to."

Helga cast a glare at him, seeing how Hermione and Ron were flushing slightly. "That only applies to us. Enemies that we have, had, will have, would be fools not to exploit our weaknesses."

That seemed to ease Hermione's discomfort enough. "So how do all of you defend yourselves against Dementors?"

"Emptying my mind is a strategy that I use," said Godric, before holding up a finger at Rowena. "Don't say-"

"Doesn't take much work, after all."

"…it. Don't say it, was what I was saying."

"Well, it is true." The female Founder's lips twitched into a smile, easing her usually stern expression that reminded Harry of a combination of Snape and McGonagall. "Besides the fact that Godric enters his natural state to ward off Dementors," here they all ignored his shouted denial, "I find that focusing on one thing in particular can help."

"That one thing is usually a book," added Salazar with a snicker.

She huffed indignantly and crossed her arms. "Books are easy to focus on!"

"Agreed," said Hermione with a small grin.

Harry cast a curious look at the two other Founders. He assumed that one of them created the Patronus spell (and that one of them was responsible, in part, for his Patronus lessons). Helga was smiling, watching the other three bicker, with an expression reminiscent to a parent.

Salazar, on the other hand, looked distinctly uncomfortable. In fact, if Harry thought about it, he had looked uncomfortable ever since their first visit. That was the time when Harry hadn't seen his slightly shifting, the way he cast looks at the other Founders while looking worried.

The black haired Founder averted his eyes when he started talking. "I find that pain can help, but it is not a method I would recommend for any of you."

"Is that why you have that dagger?" Ron asked, looking at the simple sheath at his hip. The Founders had confirmed that the clothes they were wearing had been what they were wearing at the moment before they sent their 'other selves' into the bracelets.

"I don't just keep a dagger for that reason," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "They are always useful in situations where one is wandless and doesn't have access to a shape-shifting bracelet."

There was a brief moment, during which Harry turned a slightly irritated glance to Helga (he blamed her for his Patronus suffering. Slightly.). The silence was broken by Melanie, who had either thought up a wall or found one somewhere. Said wall was being slammed against by her head.

"Didn't think of it!" she cried, stopping for a brief moment. Her expression was one of dismay and extreme annoyance. "I could've had a mirror!"

_A mirror? _Harry wondered. _What could that be for? _Before anybody could voice their questions, Melanie waved a hand in Helga's direction, gesturing for her to tell them how she dealt with Dementors.

Helga coughed quietly, diverting their attention from Melanie rubbing her very red forehead.

"The Patronus charm was my method, something I can tell that Harry has figured out." Said boy replaced his scowl with a sheepish smile. He felt a slap to his shoulder and looked at Hermione, who was shooting him the 'don't-disrespect-them' look.

_Fine, fine, _he thought with a small pout.

Salazar rolled his eyes. "Back to our previous discussion…"

~.~.~.~.~

"Are you ready?" asked Professor Lupin, looking at Harry's pale face with worry.

_Not really._ "Sure."

The Boggart was released once more, and Harry shivered at the seemingly sudden drop in temperature.

Harry tried to empty his mind, like Godric did, but all he ended up doing was exposing himself to the Dementor even further. Besides, his mind was then occupied with the thoughts about how the Founder was able to do that, and perhaps Rowena was right.

_Okay, Rowena's strategy then. _

There weren't many things he could visual properly to be able to distract himself. He shifted the image from a quill, to an inkpot, to a piece of parchment, until it settled on Salazar's dagger.

_This definitely isn't working._

He started to pinch himself, not having a dagger available, but when that didn't work, he groaned and cast the spell, hearing the broken pieces of the memory.

_This is really, really not fun._

~.~.~.~.~

"So you just started pinching yourself?" asked Melanie in disbelief. When Harry nodded, she looked torn because laughing so hard that she'd fall off her chair or face palming hard enough to push herself to the ground.

"Stop laughing," he protested, though it sounded half-hearted even to his own ears.

"You have to-"

"-admit, Harry. It's-"

"-pretty damn hilarious!"

"Hermione, Ron, Draco…" Harry trailed off, staring at them. "Please don't turn into the Weasley triplets or something."

~.~.~.~.~

"This is awesome!" Harry yelled, taking one hand off his broomstick to wave it around in the air.

He had (finally, thankfully) gotten his Firebolt back. Hermione had sent him a vaguely apologetic look when the professors said that there was nothing wrong with the broom, but he had started thanking her for thinking ahead before she could actually start apologizing.

_'Better safe than dead,' is quite appropriate in this case._

"Come on, Harry!" Draco said, cupping his hands around his mouth. "When are you going to let somebody else have a turn?"

"Never!" he shouted back gleefully, diving down to the ground before pulling up sharply.

The Slytherin Quidditch Captain was practically drooling at the sight of the broom, with an expression scarily similar to the Captain of the Gryffindor team.

"I really hope we're not going to have early practices," he muttered to himself.

Another few laps around the Quidditch pitch, all the while grinning madly, before Harry stopped in front of a very excited Draco.

"Don't break it," he advised, the last word just barely out of his mouth before his friend was already up in the air.

He watched for a few more moments before confirming that Draco wasn't going to crash his broom. When he turned around, though, the entire Quidditch team was lined up behind him, all giving him either sheepish or smug grins.

Groaning, he nodded and plugged his ears as the cheers echoed around.

_This is going to be a long day…_

**{A/N Blah… This chapter… These chapters… Okay, I'll stop complaining. XD**

**I remember reading another fanfiction where there were different ways to defend against Dementors, which the Founders had. I don't exactly remember what they were, and I'm really sorry if I did actually copy those methods. DX**

**Oh, and I wanted to add that Melanie was despairing over the shape-shifting bracelet because she could've had a mirror for the basilisk (which she was somewhat wondering about at the beginning-ish of second year fanfic).**

**Question: Somebody wanna explain 'deadpan' to me? I've searched up the definition, but I'm not entirely sure what cases it would be used it.**

******Alrighty, read and review. I'll continue editing/reformatting second year and what I have so far of the third year, so it might take some time for the next chapter to come out! Hope you all aren't bored with me. XD**}

**~ScaleneGalleons~**


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